


Hit Me With Your Best Shot

by TheWritingGiant



Series: Upstead Whump [4]
Category: Chicago PD (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:02:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28595166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWritingGiant/pseuds/TheWritingGiant
Summary: When a hostage situation erupts during one of the coldest days of the year, how will the Intelligence Unit respond? Especially when one of their own finds themselves caught in the fray?
Relationships: Jay Halstead/Hailey Upton
Series: Upstead Whump [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2016962
Comments: 73
Kudos: 186





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all, Happy One Chicago Day! I hope everyone had an awesome holiday and a brilliant start to the new year. Welcome back to another Upstead Whump story, and the first multichapter story in this series. Hope you enjoy.

Jay Halstead was already half-awake when his alarm went off at quarter to six in the morning. He shut it off quickly and snuggled deeper under the covers. The bed was warm, and he did not want to leave it. He chanced a glance over his shoulder to look out the window, hoping for a blizzard that would make going to work impossible, but he could see the fading stars dotted against the clear pre-dawn sky. Jay groaned that was worse. He turned and reached out, gently tugging the warm body that was still asleep next to him close, and burying his nose into its neck. The blonde moaned in protest as the movement forced her out of a pleasant dream. "Morning," her voice was groggy with sleep.

"Morning," Jay smiled and dropped a kiss to her bare shoulder. "You sleep okay?"

"Yeah, someone wore me out pretty good last night," her tone was teasing as she twisted in his arms. Hailey's blue eyes met his, shining bright with mischief. "Slept like a rock."

He grinned as images of the night before flooded his mind, Hailey smirked and pressed a quick kiss to his smiling lips as she moved to sit up and start the day. It was Jay's turn to groan in protest, and he wrapped his arms tighter around her waist and pulled her back down. "No."

"Jay," she laughed. "We got to get up."

Jay shook his head and rolled until he had Hailey pinned beneath him. Propping himself up on an elbow so he wouldn't crush her, Jay lifted his other hand to sweep her messy waves off of her face. "I think it's a perfect day stay in bed; we should call in sick."

Hailey looked out the window, where bright pinks and oranges were beginning to stain the sky. "Okay, you might have been able to make an argument if it was snowing, but Jay, it's clear and bright out there."

"It's February in Chicago, Hailey," Jay's voice was muffled as he pressed kisses up and down the column of her throat. "Clear and bright means your lungs get freezer burn every time you inhale."

He trailed his lips down to her collar bone and smiled as she threaded her fingers through his hair; he was winning her over. He moved up to her shoulder, and Hailey tightened her grip in his short strands as she tilted her head to the side to give him more access. So Jay was wholly taken by surprise when she hooked one of her legs around his and flipped them over. He landed back on the pillows with a huff of air as Hailey straddled his waist.

"I would love to stay in bed with you all day," she leaned down and pressed her lips to his quickly.

"But?" Jay frowned, sitting up to chase her lips.

"I have to be to the courthouse by nine," she leaned away from him. "The Gaines trial starts today."

Jay dropped his head back onto the pillows and groaned. He'd forgotten about that. "You ready for it?" he asked, all teasing gone. "I heard he got some hotshot lawyer."

"Yeah," she nodded and let her fingers trace a pattern with the freckles on his chest. "But it was good police work, and Valdez has her ducks in a row, so hopefully it's over with pretty quickly."

"We can have a rain check on all this though right?" He asked as she swung off him and headed to shower.

"Tonight?" Hailey called out over the sound of the water. "Old Irving Brewing, on me?"

"Sounds good," he dragged himself out of bed and headed into the bathroom. After all, she never said he couldn't join her.

It wound up being a mad dash around the house after that. Hailey had more than welcomed his intrusion on her shower, and well, maybe they lingered a little too long. They scrambled to get dressed, Hailey in a grey pantsuit with an emerald green shirt, prim and professional for court, while Jay chucked on his usual jeans and henley. Then it was the rush out the door. Jay handed her a thermos full of coffee and pressed a quick kiss to her lips as he headed to his truck. "Good luck," he shouted over his shoulder. "Love you."

"Love you," Hailey called back as she slid into her car. "Stay safe."

It hit her as soon as she shut the door. That was the first time they had said those words. 

They'd been seeing each other since November. The job offer from the FBI had been what pushed them over the edge from best friends and partners to the something more that they'd been circling for over a year. She'd lobbed it up for him at the bar the same night the package had arrived, all but begging him to tell her to stay without actually saying the words. But he refused to take the bait. He had told her that, of course, he didn't want her to leave, but that he wouldn't stand in her way if she wanted to go, it was an amazing opportunity after all. That he would never want to be the reason she denied herself something that she wanted. Besides he was proud of her, the feds didn't come knocking every day, and she impressed them so much in her month-long lone out that they wanted her back.

It was the promise that he asked for that made her heart leap. 

"Just promise me I won't lose you completely, okay?" His green eyes were pleading. "I mean, New York to Chicago, it's not that long a flight, right? Maybe we actually use our vacation days, trade-off visits to see each other. Or meet somewhere in between? Maybe FaceTime once a week or something, do our thing that works that way?"

Hailey didn't have words for that, so she just stood up and wrapped her arms tight around him. It wasn't something they did often, hugging, she could count the number of times it happened on the one hand. At Al's funeral, after Wilson Young shot up the van they were in, when Kim and Adam lost their baby, and when he dropped her off at the airport before she headed to New York. Hailey could tell that he took it as a goodbye, as a yes to his ask, and he squeezed back just as tight before he pulled away and made an excuse about needing to meet his brother.

She went by his apartment later that night. She didn't say anything when he opened the door, completely confused by her presence. Hailey just held out her phone, open to the email she'd sent minutes after he left the bar, for him to read. Thanking Agent Castille for the opportunity, but rejecting the offer. While Hailey did not doubt that she could do great things at the FBI, she wanted to be where she felt like she could do the most good, and Chicago and the CPD gave her that. The grin on Jay's face grew with each word he read, and before Hailey knew it, he had tucked her phone in his pocket and reached out, pulling her in for a kiss.

The rest, as they say, was history. The next morning, after having fallen asleep on Jay's couch after a heated make-out session, Hailey and Jay talked through what happened. Being together was something they both wanted, that was clear. And while they also wanted to keep doing their job in the Intelligence Unit and be partners in all aspects of their lives, both were willing to transfer out. It would have been easy for Hailey, Jeff Rafferty, her old boss when she was undercover, had just taken over at Major Crimes and issued Hailey an open invitation if she ever wanted to jump ship. They took a couple of weeks, not hiding their relationship but not declaring it either, just trying to see how they worked together given the new dynamic, and when they brought the HR forms to Voight after shift one day he took them with a grunt and nothing more. When they arrived at work the next day, they were still in the unit and, more surprisingly, still partners. They didn't even feel like they had extra eyes on them. They knew it was Voight's way of telling them that he trusted them, and it only made the transition easier, not feeling like they had to walk on eggshells at work.

The months since then had been fantastic. They still did their thing, talking through the tough cases over a drink or two, but now it was even easier to brush off the lingering bad case blues after a night in each other's arms. They went on dates and didn't hide when they decided to meet up with the team for drinks, which Kevin was still paying for after winning the Upstead (as Kim had dubbed them) office pool. And of course, they still had disagreements, professionally and personally, but that wasn't exactly new, and the making up part was fantastic. There was no denying it, Hailey Upton was in love with Jay Halstead, and apparently, he loved her too. And to say it as casually as they had, it fit them to a 't'. Hailey smiled as she backed out her driveway and headed across town to the courthouse, she wanted to get the day over with so she could come back and spend the rest of the night in the arms of the man she loved.

*

It was freezing out as Hailey raced up the steps of the courthouse. Jay had been right, the sun was shining with nary a cloud in sight, but it was _freezing_. She was pretty sure the old walk-in fridge at her family's restaurant would feel like a tropical vacation compared to the temperature outside. 

"How are you doing Hailey?" ASA Anna Valdez greeted her as she walked through the main doors.

"I'll let you know when I thaw out," the blonde detected shivered and tried to stamp some feeling back into her feet.

"It's days like this that always make me feel bad anyone experiencing their first Chicago winter," the brunette lawyer shook her head. "Mother Nature is a vicious prankster."

"I'm pretty sure I saw Jack Frost starting a picket line," Hailey fought to keep her teeth from chattering, as they headed through security. "How's it going here?"

"Good," Anna smiled and directed the detective to witness room where she could keep her coat. "We have Judge Davis; she's probably one of the most anti-drug judges in the state, let alone Chicago. It's a nice boost to have, not that we need it, our case is solid."

"I heard Gaines' lawyer tried to get the case dismissed?"

"Thomas Watson," the ASA rolled her eyes. "Yeah, he tried to argue that undercover operations are unlawful and tantamount to entrapment and tried to have the tape and the drugs you guys seized thrown out. But you had your I's and T's all dotted and crossed. Judge Davis pretty much told him to shove it and prepare for trial."

Hailey tried not to sigh as she dropped off her coat, the man sounded like a throw it and see what sticks kind of lawyer. That usually made for a lengthy trial full of objections and useless questions. "Have fun," Hailey smiled at Anna as she took her seat in the gallery.

"Oh, I will."

*

Trials are an essential part of the judicial process; Hailey knew that and respected it, but god, they were also boring. She could be doing so many other things instead of sitting on an uncomfortable wooden slab, waiting for the chance to be questioned and cross-examined about her work. And with the way this particular trial was going, she'd be amazed if they even got to her today. It had been nearly two hours since they had gotten underway and they were still on opening statements. While Anna had wrapped up fairly quickly the defence lawyer, Watson, kept going and going and Judge Davis had made no move so far to hurry him along; though Hailey would swear she saw the woman nod off more than once. 

As the defence attorney droned on, Hailey cast her eyes over to the left side of the courtroom where the defendant sat, a cocky smirk on his face. Hailey would have loved nothing more than to smack it off him. Richard Gaines was a twenty-nine-year-old club owner and a trust fund baby. He had plenty of daddy's money to fall back on if his club in the West Loop, Reverb, had flopped like many expected. But that hadn't happened, to the surprise of everyone Reverb had become one of the hottest tickets in town since it opened with a large Halloween Bash. The one-time tabloid playboy had become Chicago's golden boy, and the media played it up. They almost tried to make it seem like a rag to riches story, with Richard touting all the hardships he had faced, how no one had believed in him, how they all expected him to fall flat on his face. Hailey had rolled her eyes so hard when the story came over the radio one afternoon that Jay teased her about her eyes getting stuck that way because it was such a hardship to have your father give you an old unused warehouse from his import/export business. Because it was so difficult to convince your rich party friends to post and boast about your club to their followers on social media, driving in business. But it didn't matter, Reverb was off the charts successful and packed just about every night, with lines around the block.

Then bodies started to drop. By mid-November, there had been five ODs with Reverb's stamp on their hands. Brittany Latimer, Layla Conners, Marco Nunez, Piper Baumgartner and John Thierry. All young, in their early to mid twenty's. All with drugs in their system, cocaine that'd been cut with levamisole, a pet dewormer that was toxic to humans. Narcotics had the case initially. They figured that there was some agreement between Gaines and a local dealer to sell out of his club for a cut, but they couldn't prove it. After the sixth body Nicholas Moreno, dropped, Narcotics stalled, and Deputy Miller asked Intelligence to take over the case. 

It was a CI of Kim's, Julian Fischer, that gave them a lead. He was a delivery man for the club's liquor distributor, and during one of his deliveries, he had heard Gaines arguing with the bar manager, Clive. He saw the man pass Gaines a large wad of cash, but Gaines was still pissed, some of the money was missing. Julian didn't know what it was for, but he heard Gaines tell Clive to "get the rest of my money from that bitch," and "fire her ass. I don't want to see her in my club again."

They got into the club through Julian; on his next delivery, they had him approach Clive. He told the manager that he heard they let a bartender go, that he had a friend looking for a job. He'd even make sure an extra case of Alfred Giraud fell off the truck if Clive would do him this solid. And so Hailey went under as Riley, a graduate student at CCU with student loans to pay. It took two weeks, and another body dropping for them to get what they needed. 

Gaines and Clive had Hailey, or well, Riley, shadow some of their other bartenders during her first few shifts, learning their drink menu and how they moved about the bar, nothing out of the ordinary. However, every so often whoever she was shadowing would get an order for a Stardust's Kiss, and they'd send her away to handle a few of the other clients. The club was often busy enough that such a command shouldn't have been a surprise, but it also didn't take a genius to figure out that somehow this drink was the delivery method or the code word for the drugs. Hailey scanned the large menu front to back, and nowhere was a Stardust's Kiss listed. Each time she dismissed, Hailey played her part but kept an eye out for how they made the drink. It was a cocktail she was already familiar with; three parts gin, one part vodka and a half measure of Lillet Blanc shaken over ice and served with a lemon twist. A James Bond-style martini, nothing too fancy or complicated.

Voight wanted her to play it cool, let them come to her rather than confront them about the "confusion" over the drink. Whether they were right or wrong about their suspicions, the club could only keep her in the dark over it for so long. And he was right, at the end of the second week, during an inventory shift, Clive finally approached her. "So here's the deal," he cleared his throat and made a show of looking up some numbers on one of the clubs iPads. "We have this drink, a Stardust's Kiss."

"A Stardust's Kiss?" Hailey quirked an eyebrow. "Never heard of it."

"It's our spin on a vesper martini. You know how to make one?"

"Yes, I do."

"Good," he nodded. "So someone orders it, you go upstairs to Rick, just tell 'em you have to get something from the back for it. You tell Rick who's ordering the drink, if he gives the okay, you come back down and make it."

"Okay," she drew the word out in mock confusion. "Why all the run around for a martini?"

Clive frowned. "The glasses for it are on the bottom shelf at the far right of the bar."

"But we keep the cocktail glasses in the middle section on the second shelf?" she played dumb.

"When you serve it," he carried on like she hadn't spoken. "Tell them to be careful of the base of the glass, and don't forget to dust the rim in sugar."

"For a martini?"

"Do you understand or not, Riley?"

Hailey raised her hands in surrender. "Stardust's Kiss, talk to Richard, bottom right shelf, watch the base."

"And dust the rim."

"'And dust the rim,'" she echoed.

"Good girl," Clive nodded and passed her the iPad. "Finish up here, I'll see you tonight."

It all went down a few nights later. It was a bustling Friday night at the bar, when a woman, decked out in a plastic crown and sash that read 'bride to be', approached her. "I need," the woman leaned in close to Hailey, already well on her way to wasted. "Five Stardust's Kisses."

Hailey plastered on her biggest fake smile. "Come right up; I just have to go and get something from the back."

She watched as the woman saluted her and plunked herself down heavily on one of the bar stools, as Hailey made her way to the back. But instead of going to the stock room, she made her way up the stairs to Richard's private office. She knocked on the blue door and waited until the club owner invited her in. He was sitting at his desk, watching a bank of monitors. He leaned back in his chair, hands resting behind his head as she made her way over to the desk. "What can I do for you, Riley?" he shot her a pearly white smile.

"I have a bachelorette party downstairs who want five Stardust's Kisses," she said hesitantly. "Clive said that if anyone order that, I had to come up here talk to you?"

She watched as Richard pulled open a drawer and set five dime bags down on his desk. "For a group that size the first round is free, it's ninety a pop if they want any more," he rested his elbows on his desk and scanned her up and down. "You good with all that?"

Hailey picked up a bag and shook it, watching as the white powder settled. "Cocaine?"

"It's usually the same price for employees if your interested," Richard smiled again. "But I'm sure you and I could come to some other arrangement."

"And you're only charging ninety dollars?" She didn't have to fake her surprise at the price. Richard was massively undercutting the market. She was shocked that they didn't have a drug war on their hands. 

"You're a student right Riley?" he asked, settling back in his chair. "Studying business?"

"English lit," she corrected.

"Well, in case you ever want to make the switch to something profitable, here's a little tip. The best way for a business to keep costs down, profits up and customers happy is to make as many things in-house as possible."

"Is that so?" she mused, they had the son of a bitch. "Any other tips you care to share?"

"All trade secrets, I'm afraid," he winked and held up a sixth bag. "You want a taste?"

"Tempting," Hailey grinned and swept up the remaining four baggies. "But I really should get back to work."

She headed back downstairs and grabbed the glasses, twisting open the false bottoms like Clive had shown her and stashing the baggies inside. Setting them on the bar, Hailey hustled to mix the martinis and passed the off to the blushing bride and her friends with a bright smile. "Be careful of the bottoms okay. Come on back to me if you want more."

She watched as the group disappeared into the crowd and turned to grin at Clive, who watched from the other side of the bar. He gave her a little nod and went back to help out with the rush of orders. Hailey took a breath and resettled herself into the role of Riley. It was only a matter of time now. The bride to be and her bride's maids had really been Burgess and a group of undercover officers. They took the baggies to the lab, and by the next morning a warrant had been issued, and Intelligence and patrol stormed the club. Gaines had lawyered up before they even slapped the cuffs on him. And now here she was, listening to his lawyer babble as Gaines faced seven counts of drug-induced homicide. 

It happened just when it finally seemed that Watson was wrapping up his opening. The all too familiar popping sound that made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Before Hailey could do anything, the door to the Judge's entrance at the back of the courtroom burst open and chaos erupted.

A group of men stormed in, shooting at the ceiling, people screamed and ran to the back door to escape before one of them blocked the path. Hailey dumped her star off her belt and kicked it away, as she ducked down in the aisle, covering the woman who sat beside her. She carefully poked her head up to see what she could make out. It was four men, their faces covered by Jason Voorhees style hockey masks, but she could see from their ungloved hands that they were white. They were all armed with AK assault rifles and extra clips. One of the men, who was clearing the aisle and forcing the remaining people to the front of the room was massive, even taller and broader than even Kevin was, but Hailey doubted he was as friendly. The next two were average height, one skinny, the other stocky, jammed thin metal wedges under the doors, and barring them from being opened again. It was the fourth man that made Hailey's stomach twist. He was clearly the one in charge, standing atop the court reporters desk, his eyes and gun scanning the room, but it wasn't the gun that scared her, it was what he was wearing, a vest lined with wires and c4 strapped tight across his torso. A switch poked out of the opening, waiting for him to grab it and arm the device. 

"Up," the large man had a deep voice to match his build. He pointed his gun at them from the end of their row. "Give me your phones and move to the front. Now!"

The woman Hailey had been shielding shook beneath her. "It's okay, Ma'am," she whispered. "Just close your eyes and breath."

"I said move," the big man stepped forward and stuck his gun right in the woman's face. 

"She's scared," Hailey bit back. "Give her a second."

"Ma'am," she took the woman's hand gently in her own. "It's okay, I know you're afraid, I am too. But we need to do what they say. We'll be safe if we do what they say. Okay?"

The woman nodded and gripped Hailey's hand tight. The blonde helped her scramble to her feet and into the alley as they dropped their phones into the bag the gunman held. "You're doing great," Hailey assured the woman as she took a shove from the tall man. "Just keep breathing, Ma'am."

They sat in the well with the others, and Hailey took a quick headcount. She could see Anna Valdez and her second chair, the Judge, and the Bailiff, who was out cold and bound tight with zip ties to a table, all the rest of the hostages were members of the jury or spectators that hadn't been able to make it out. About a dozen and a half people in all, Gaines the lucky bastard had somehow managed to slip away.

"I know you're all scared," the leader spoke from his perch. Given any other situation, his voice might have been soothing. "Please understand this display was to show the cops we mean business. Know that we don't want to hurt any of you."

"Then let us go," a juror pipped up.

"We can't do that either," the man shook his head. "You are the best way to ensure we get what we want. As I said, we don't want to hurt you, but we will if anyone tries to play the hero. Keep calm, listen to what we tell you, and no harm will come to you. I promise once we get what we want, you'll all get to go home."

"And what exactly," Hailey glared up at him. "do you want?"

"Richard Gaines."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody, how's everyone doing after last weeks episode? Totally did not mean to leave it so long between updates on this one. Covid is currently making its way through the FD right now, so I've had some extra shifts in the last couple of weeks. However, after testing positive myself, I am now in quarantine, so updates will definitely be happening faster. I feel fine, no symptoms so far, it just goes to further the point that you never know with this virus, so wear your masks, wash your hands and take care. Enjoy.

Jay leaned back in his chair and stretched his hands above his head. It had been a quiet day so far for Intelligence. They had no open cases. No calls had come in demanding their presence on at a crime scene. So they sat, chained to their desks, sorting through the backlog of paperwork that always seemed to pile up. To be honest paperwork days never really bothered Jay like they did the others, especially in the dead of winter. It was nice to stay warm in the district, with coffee just steps away, plus Voight would almost always spring for lunch. The rest of the team liked to moan about how long paperwork days were, but he had honestly never noticed before. He did this time, though, and he knew the reason why. Hailey. Jay usually had Hailey right across from him to joke around with. They'd tease Adam when he started to complain a little too loudly. She always brought him a coffee every time she got up for her own refill, while he handled the snacks just often enough to keep hangry-Hailey at bay. He would pretend to be mad when she would nick yet another pen off of his desk. Then Jay would return the favour by seeing how many little balls of paper he could get stuck in her hair before Hailey kicked him in the shin under their desks.

Then there were all the times Jay would just look at her, taking her in. The intense focus in her blue eyes, how her hair would fall over her face no matter how many times she tucked it behind her ear. He questioned her about it once, why she didn't just put it up in a ponytail like when they were on a case. "Staring at screens and white paper all day is enough of a headache on its own, Jay," Hailey had rolled her eyes at him. "I don't need to give it head start." He had given her a nod and turned to the stack of papers on his own desk; he wasn't going to argue, he liked it when she kept her hair loose.

Hailey had caught him staring more than once. Before they got together, Jay always played it off, that she just happened to be in the space he was staring off into; it had nothing to do with her. It was a lie, of course, and they both knew it, but Hailey would just throw a pen cap at him and tell him to get back to it or drinks would be on him that night. Now, whenever she felt his gaze on her, Hailey would shoot him that smirk of hers, the one she knew drove him wild before pulling out her phone and sending him a text. One that detailed all the things her smirk promised, the things that would only happen if he knuckled down finished his damned reports. She never once failed to deliver.

He debated texting her. He could tell her about how much worse Ruzek's whining was without her demanding he shut up. Seriously, the man had spent nearly an hour muttering _just loud enough_ about how much his hand was cramping, his back was aching, and his head was pounding. Even Kim, usually so patient and kind, especially when it came to Adam, had threatened to tape his mouth shut if he didn't stop talking.

Or he could send her a photo of her empty desk. Maybe make some joke along with it. One telling her how much better the view from his desk was when she was there. 

Or he could just ask if she was as bored sitting in court as he was sitting at his desk. 

Or, if he really wanted to torture himself, he could ask her if she meant what she said this morning. 

It was the first time either of them said those three words, or two words, Jay supposed. 'Love you,' that's what he said, just tossed them out over his shoulder as surely as he did when he asked about what she wanted for dinner. But he had meant them. He had known for a while that he loved her. Since before they even got together if he was being honest. He hadn't meant to tell her like that, though, not the first time. Then again, Hailey had said it back. Did she mean it? Or was it just a reflex brought on by the distraction in the chaos of leaving? He was dying to know, but texting her was a cop-out, and he knew it. 

Besides, it was a moot point anyway. Hailey was in court, she'd have her phone off. 

Jay shook himself out of his thoughts and blinked a few times. He looked up at the clock; it wasn't even twelve yet, and he was already tired. Coffee, he needed coffee. Standing for the first time in hours, he stretched again, relishing in the small pops that trailed up his spine, when Voight's office door banged open, making him and the rest of the team jump.

"Move out," Voight barked in his gruff voice. They all scrambled for their coats and guns.

"What's goin' on, Sarge?" Kevin asked.

"We got a hostage situation at the courthouse."

Jay felt like someone slapped him. "Sarge?"

Voight looked at him and shook his head. He knew exactly what Jay was asking, but he didn't have the answers right then. He had no idea if Hailey was caught up in it or not. "SWATs already on scene, we're meeting them there. Now move."

Jay drove through the streets like a madman, calling Hailey's cell the entire time, but she didn't pick up. It wasn't a good sign. Jay knew her, Hailey would have leapt into the fray and given an assist wherever they needed her. But she also would have reached out, let them know that she was alright. The fact that she hadn't, Jay hit the steering wheel hard and let the stinging in his palm distract him from the dark thoughts that ran through his mind.

"What do we know so far?" Voight asked the SWAT team leader as soon as they arrived at the command truck.

"Approximately thirty minutes ago, courtroom seven was seized by a group of armed offenders," the man, Bauer, reported. "Witnesses are a little conflicted, the count is anywhere from three to five takers. Armed. Both the main doors and the judge's entrance are sealed, we aren't sure with what."

"Do we know what case was being tried in that room?" Kim asked.

"Looks like," Bauer checked his notes. "State versus Richard Gaines. The preppy club owner on the hook for—"

"Seven counts of drug-induced homicide," Voight finished. 

Jay squeezed his fists tight, his blunt nails digging into his palms. Kim flattened her lips and looked up at the ceiling, while Kevin chewed at his and kept his gaze on the ground. Adam kicked a chair beside him, sending it tumbling to the ground.

"What's the problem here, guys?" Bauer asked.

"One of my detectives was scheduled to testify on that case today."

"My partner," Jay ground out.

"Hailey Upton," Voight supplied.

Bauer rechecked his list. "I don't have her on our list," he locked eyes with Voight. "She solid?"

"Hailey knows how to handle herself," the sergeant nodded. But Jay could see through it, beneath his boss's calm exterior, Voight was worried. A lot could go wrong if the crew found out that Hailey was a cop. "We got eyes in?"

"We're working on tapping into the CCTV now."

"We are past working," another officer said as she rushed into the truck. "Got the patch, Sir, just give me a second pull it up."

"Double time, Carrillo, they got people in there," Bauer ordered.

Officer Carrillo nodded as her fingers flew over the keyboard. Jay crossed his arms and watched as monitors flickered life. "We got four camera's," Carrillo relayed. "According to security, there are blind spot on east and west walls, but they're barely big enough on person stand, so there's no advantage there for our takers."

"Do we have sound?" Adam asked as the rest of the unit gathered around the monitors.

"Negative."

As the images came to life on the screen, Jay could see the hostages seated together against the jury box, and for the first time in years, he prayed. That Hailey wasn't in there, that her not reaching out was just some oversight, maybe her phone had died, or she lost it on the way out the door, anything. "You guys see your friend?"

"She's there," Kim said from beside him and pointed at the screen. "Dammit."

"They make any demands yet?" Jay swallowed back the lump in his throat. He couldn't get caught up in the anger, the fear, he needed to focus, and they needed to plan. They were going to get Hailey out of there.

"No," commander Bauer answered. "We'll make try and make contact in a few, after they get a chance to settle."

"We want them settled?" Adam asked in disbelief.

"What is that?" Kevin reached around Carrillo and paused the feed. One of the perps was standing on the desk, in an all too familiar sight for Jay. "Tell me it's not what I think it is."

"It's a suicide vest," Jay shook his head. 

"Do we think they've figured out Hailey's a cop?" Kim asked. 

They all watched the screen as two of the crew lead Hailey across the room, and she kneeled beside a prone figure, the Bailiff, Jay noted. "It doesn't look like it," he breathed a sigh of relief as the men backed off. "I don't see her star, so she probably ditched it."

"Good," Voight nodded. 

"We're working on getting ears in there," Bauer informed them. "But right now we don't know how that vest is wired, and we can't risk a radio."

"I don't get why we're just sitting here talking," Adam snapped. "You're SWAT aren't you? Let's charge the doors. Hit them with flashbangs, tear gas and tasers. We go hard and fast; they won't see it coming."

Every eye in the room turned to look at Ruzek. They were all hoping he wasn't serious, but if the steely look in his eye meant anything, he was.

"Well, for starters," Carrillo began slowly. "Any attempt to breach those doors gives us away, no matter how fast we are. That gives them time t-"

Bauer silenced her with a look and offered a more diplomatic approach to Adam's ire. "All that has its time and place, but they are always the last resort. Let us do our jobs. Deescalation is always the first step. And usually the most successful."

"How long is that going to take?" Adam demanded. "I mean we got a cop in there."

"And over a dozen civilians," Carrillo counterd. "Priority of life, man."

Jay watched as Ruzek turned sharply towards the SWAT officer, a glower on his face. "Adam," Kim cut in front of him and pushed at his shoulders. "Back off. Take a breath."

It was good advice. Jay inhaled deeply through his nose as Kim led Adam away. Exhaling he turned back to the monitor. Hailey was seated again, right next to ASA Anna Valdez, he felt a pang of guilt. None of them hadn't realized that Anna was there. When Antonio had finally reached out from Puerto Rico, he made them promise to keep an eye out for the young lawyer. He had a soft spot for the her after his time at the Justice Department; they all did. But Anna wasn't in as much danger if the hostage-takers figured out what her job was. Jay let his eyes scan over Hailey again; she looked okay. He took another breath and let the bands of panic and fear that had coiled around his chest, loosen a little. Hailey was as safe as she could be for now. She knew what she was doing, she as trained for situations like this, Jay trusted that. Jay trusted her. Together, somehow, they would figure this out.

"Alright, we're ready to call," Bauer's voice broke Jay out of his thoughts. He followed behind Kevin and Voight as they made their way over to another monitor. "We don't do this over speakerphone in here," the negotiator explained as he tapped the monitor. "The transcript is going to come up here."

"Let's get this done," Voight nodded and gripped the back of the man's chair. 

Bauer pulled on a headset and dialled the phone. Jay held his breath; this was it.

*

"Why do you want Gaines?" Hailey asked.

The big man shoved his gun in her face. It was a scare tactic, but Hailey didn't flinch. "Shut up," he ordered gruffly.

"Calm down," Bomb Vest ordered, pulling the large man back before his eyes trained on Hailey again. "Who are you?"

It was the same question she had. "Hailey Upton," she answered honestly. It wasn't a good idea to lie about her name, the trial was closed to the public because of the pandemic, and if they were able to check the witness list, she'd be done for in a second. But that only listed her name and who she was testifying for, not her occupation. "I'm a nurse at Gaffney Medical Centre. I treated the last victim."

She glanced at Anna, and the lawyer gave the tiniest nod she could, she understood the play. If they knew Hailey was a cop, then there was no telling what they would do.

"A nurse?" Bomb Vest echoed. "You willing to check out our man over here," he gestured to the Bailiff.

Hailey nodded and rose slowly as the two quiet ones framed her. She needed something better to call them, even if it was only in her head. The Three Musketeers she decided, she just finished re-reading the book a few days ago when her insomnia had been acting up once again. The leader in the vest would be Athos, the big man Parthos, the stockier of the two quiet ones was Aramis, making the skinny one D'Artagnan. It seemed to fit she mused as she kneeled next to the Bailiff.

"Well, Hailey," Athos stared down at her. His eyes were unnerving, dark brown and surrounded by grease paint; they were almost not there. It was a little too much like Friday the 13th for her liking, and she hated those movies. "To answer your question, Gaines took something from us."

"And you want it back?" she guessed. Maybe they were apart of Gaines' supply chain, someone he'd snubbed or undercut along the way. Or someone who get screwed for a payday when the department seized all the product during the raid.

"Just do what you can for him," Athos nodded to the unconscious man and turned back to whisper with Porthos.

Hailey took a deep breath and reached down to check the Bailiff's pulse at the wrist; it was strong and steady underneath her fingers. He was breathing, and there were no signs of blood coming from his head. She reached around to the back of it and felt a tender spot where he'd been clocked with the butt of one of their rifles, but her fingers came back dry and blood-free. She shook him for a few seconds, tapped on his forehead and chest, but the man remained still. Hailey made a fist and placed it on the centre of his chest, leaning her weight into her knuckles she moved them up and down the Bailiff's sternum as hard as she could. He twitched under her, then groaned and slowly, finally, he blinked his eyes open.

"There he is," Hailey smiled down at him. "Can you tell me your name?"

"Lewis Bray," he croaked.

Hailey looked at Judge Davis for confirmation. At her nod, she turned back to the man in front of her. "Do you remember what happened?" Lewis nodded but didn't speak. "My name is Hailey; you think you'll be okay if we try and set you up?"

Lewis nodded again, and Hailey helped support him as he pulled himself upright and settled against the table leg his wrists were bound to. "Alright Mr Bray," she shuffled back a few feet and held up her left hand. "I want you to follow my finger with your eyes. You just let me know if anything feels or looks off okay?"

She trailed her finger back and forth, up and down, watching his eyes as they tracked the movement. Then she brought her finger close to his nose to make him go cross-eyed and back out again a few times. "No blurriness or double vision?"

"No," the Bailiff responded. 

"Any dizziness?"

"None," Lewis assured. "Just a headache."

"Good," Hailey smiled and quirked her head to the side. "Can you bring your ear to your shoulder like this?" She took him through a few range of motion tests and palpated the back of his neck and shoulders. "Any pain?"

Lewis shook his head. "No Ma'am."

"Okay," she gave him another smile and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "If your headache gets worse, or if you feel dizzy, or off in any way, just give a shout, okay?"

"Yes, Ma'am, thank you."

"Well?" Athos questioned as Hailey rose to her feet again.

"Well, you guys rang his bell pretty good," she answered. "But I think he's going to be alright. Probably a concussion, but I don't want to say for certain. He needs the hospital to be sure, and a CT scan to rule out any bleeding in the brain."

"Once we get what we want, he'll get one," D'Artagnan spoke for the first time. He sounded so young.

"What do we do in the meantime?" Athos asked.

"Keep him awake," Hailey shrugged. "Check on him every so often. I can repeat a few of the tests in a little while, to make sure nothing is getting worse, but again he needs a hospital."

"I can check purses for aspirin?" D'Artagnan offered. "He said he had a headache right?"

"No," Hailey cut across. "You shouldn't give asprin to someone with a head injury. Some water sure, a damp cloth if we can, but no meds."

Athos nodded and gestured to the hostages. "Go sit back down."

Hailey took her spot next to Anna again, and the woman clutched her hand tightly. The crew was gathered in a circle, talking in hushed whispers when a shrill trilling filled the air. It was the court's landline. 

Porthos went over to it, picked up the receiver and immediately dropped it back down.

"It's the cops," Hailey said. "SWAT probably. They want to know what you want, what your demands are. How we're all going to get out of."

"How do you know so much about it?" the big man's fingers flexed around his rifle. Hailey had changed her mind on which of the crew members she was most worried about.

"My boyfriend's a cop," She answered. "And we're trained in some hostage protocols at the hospital. Calling in SWAT is always step one."

"Come here," Athos wagged his finger at her. He grabbed her around her bicep and dragged her over to the phone. "When they call back, I want you to answer it, you understand?"

"Yes."

"You think your boy is out there?"

"Maybe," Hailey answered honestly. Intelligence might have been called to the scene, but they could have been held back given that she was inside, that she was a victim. "I can't know for sure."

"What's his name?"

"Jay Halstead."

"If you hear his voice I want you to ask for a different cop, alright? I don't want you passing any messages to one another, and I don't want him barging in here trying to play saviour. That's how people are going to get hurt. You got it?"

"Got it," Hailey assured. But she wasn't worried about Jay going off book.

The phone rang again a few minutes later, and Athos nodded at her to answer it. "Hello?"

"This is Sergeant Dominic Bauer," the deep voice on the line said. "Who am I speaking with?"

"Sergeant Bauer," she repeated, a sign to Athos that she wasn't talking to Jay. "I'm Hailey Upton. I'm a nurse at Chicago Med. I was here to testify in the Gaines trial."

"Alright Hailey, can you tell us what's going on in there?"

"You have four men in here," she locked eyes with Athos. "They are armed, but they've promised that they don't want to hurt us."

"That's good," Sergeant Bauer replied. "Have they kept that promise?"

"Yes," Hailey answered. "They hit the bailiff when they came in, he's was knocked out, but he's conscious and alert now."

"That's all good," she could hear the nod in the man's voice. "Well, Hailey, are you able to tell us what it is these men want?"

"They want Richard Gaines," she relayed as Aramis passed her a note. "And once they have him, a van," she read. "And clear passes to Bolingbrook's Clow Airport. If you give them those things, they'll let us all go."

"Okay Hailey, we'll work on that, in the meantime-" Sergeant Bauer's voice was replaced with a dial tone. Her head shot up to see Athos' finger on hook switch.

"That's enough," he said. "Go sit back with the others." 

Hailey passed him the receiver, but he didn't put back on the cradle. She took her seat next to Anna. "You okay?" the brunette asked.

"Fine," Hailey whispered back. "You?"

"Yeah," she nodded

"Stop talking," Porthos growled as he paced back and forth in front of the group.

Hailey settled back against the jury box and closed her eyes. All there was to do now was wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. 
> 
> Just a little first aid tip. If you have a friend who has hit their head and is complaining of a headache, other than the obligatory, get 'em to a hospital, do not give them any kind of NSAIDs (Advil, Mortin, Aspirin etc). They increase the likelihood of a bleed. Acetaminophen (Tylenol) is okay, but honestly until they can get checked out, water and a cold compress are better.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told y'all that the updates would happen faster! I'd like to say this is a fluffy feel-good chapter. A balm of sorts to soothe some the let's say tension (cough *BAT CRAP CRAZINESS* cough) in the fandom the last few days. But it's not, sorry. Hope you enjoy it anyway. Also just 'cause it needs to be said, loudly and often, Tracy Spiridakos is awesome!

Jay pursed his lips as they watched the giant of a man pick up the phone and set it back down, that wasn't a good sign. He could see Hailey say something to them when the mountain of a man snapped at her, he felt his fingers clench into a fist, but Hailey barely noticed as she continued to speak. He wished they had ears in there.

Bomb vest gestured to her, and he held his breath as Hailey stood from her spot again and walked over to the man. "Looks like she might be gaining some ground with them," Carrillo called out as the man brought Hailey over to the phone. "Sarge try calling back."

Bauer dialled again, and Jay watched as Hailey picked up the phone. He looked over to the monitor and watched as her words came up on the screen. It wasn't as good, as reassuring, as hearing her voice would be, but it helped ease those bands around his chest even more. She had established a believable cover as a nurse, they had enough first aid training for her to play along with the lie. More importantly, Hailey had seemed to make herself trusted and useful. They could work with that. 

"…in the meantime," Bauer said into the phone as Jay read the demands the crew had Hailey relay. "Dammit. They hung up."

"So call them back," Adam insisted.

"He's kept the phone off the hook," Carrillo gestured to the monitor. "They're done talking for now."

"So where do we go from here?" Kevin asked calmly.

"We stall for time," Bauer explained. "Try our best to get ears in, and some kind of comms for your girl. You were right about her, it's a plus for us, she seems to have things well in hand. Hopefully, they keep using her. And we try and work out concessions, transport in exchange for the bomb, or a few hostages. All while we try and figure out our best tactical root."

"It's not like they're asking for millions of dollars," Adam argued. "What's the harm in turning a rat bastard like Gaines over to them, really?"

"Adam," Voight cautioned. "Let's let them do their jobs we'll go do ours. Intelligence outside now."

Jay took one last look Hailey on the monitor, sitting next to Anna, safe and unharmed, and followed the team out of the command centre.

"Know we're all worried about Hailey," Voight began as Jay joined them. "But we can't let that distract us, she is not the only one in there. So while SWAT is working their end lets work ours, figure these guys out. What do we know so far?"

"They're white," Kim offered.

"And they somehow have access to plastic explosives," Kevin added.

Adam scoffed and muttered something about clay under his breath. They all ignored him.

"We know they want Gaines," Jay said. "That means there is some kind of connection there. Someone that got screwed when we busted him, or he ripped them off?"

"Or maybe they're related to one of the vics?" Kevin shrugged. "Especially with all that news going 'round that his lawyer was going to get him off, news outlets picked that up and ran with it. And grief gave way to revenge."

"That's good. What can that give us?"

"Maybe there's a connection through Boilingsbrook's Clow," Kim looked at her notes. "It's a small airport southwest of the city. Mostly private and recreation pilots, small commuter crafts, and teaching. I have a friend from back when I was a flight attendant, he works there now, I'll reach out, see what he can give us."

"Alright," Voight nodded. "Let's start running that down. Kevin, I want you two to start running the victims, see if any of them or their family overlap with the airport."

"What about Gaines?" Jay asked

"He took off with his lawyer," The older man explained. "I'm gonna have Platt start tracking him down. Jay, you and Adam work a drugs angle, let's see if can figure out who his distributors were before we get him."

He watched as Kim, Kevin and Voight disappeared back into the command truck, and leaned against the side of it to take a breath.

"This is so stupid," Adam rested beside him, his arms crossed tight over his chest.

"What you going do about it, Adam?" Jay was annoyed. He understood his friend's frustration, but this was their best course of action.

"I already told you my plan."

"Yeah," Jay pushed himself off the vehicle glared. "You did, and it was unanimously shot down. Because your plan is the best way to get people killed."

"Come on, Jay," Adam protested. 

"You want to go in there all shock and awe," Jay spoke over him. "And hope and pray that you are fast enough to take out four heavily armed men with a bomb. You think you can get all that done before one of them squeezes a trigger and turn all of the hostages into Swiss cheese. Including Hailey. Or worse, trigger that vest and blow us all sky high. It's a bad plan, Adam, and you know it. So just stop."

"You don't know that vest is real," the other man argued. "It looks like it's put together with Playdoh or something."

"Have a lot of experience in that area do you?" Jay questioned. "Are you willing to bet Hailey's life on this wealth of knowledge you suddenly have? Hailey's life and the lives of the seventeen other people in there with her? All to prove you're right? That you know better than all of us, and all of SWAT? 'Cause, that's this is, Adam, that's it, and it's getting on my nerves. Hailey's working them, let her do her job. Let SWAT do theirs and start doing yours." 

Before the officer could say another word, Jay stormed back into the command truck, he had a job to do.

"Anything?" Voight asked his team an hour later.

"Nothing yet Sarge," Kim said from her computer. "My contact was able to get me a list of all employees, that's both at the airport and the associated museum. The warrant just came through for flight records. We're checking now for frequent users."

"We're working the victims in order," Kevin added. "Four down so far. And none of them or members of their immediate family have any connection there so far."

"Keep working it," he ordered. "Jay, how about you and Adam?"

"Dead end for now Sarge. There are no markings on any of the Ki's that Gaines was cutting," Jay informed. "Nothing to indicate who he was buying from. And if he had any records of it, they weren't in what we seized. Adam just finished talking with the bar manager, but he couldn't give us anything useful. Just knew that the stuff was coming in from Brazil. I tried running Gaines' father's company for any connection down there, see if he helped his son out with more than just property. But the old man doesn't have any dealing in the country through his import/export business."

"What about Junior?"

"I have patrol out looking for Richard right now," Trudy Platt's voice was tinny over the speakerphone she'd been brought in on. "He's not at his apartment or his club, but that's not surprising. They're hitting his lawyer's place and his parents as we speak. I've got alerts out all the bus and train stations, as well as O'Hare, Midway and all airports within fifty miles and "

Jay tuned out Voight and Platt's voices as they continued to talk about possible locations for Gaines and let himself look at the monitors once more. Hailey was still sitting there with Valdez and the rest of the hostages. She looked okay, they all did for the most part. He turned his attention to the crew, they weren't huddled together in a group anymore. The big man was on guard at the back door, the easiest breach point, while the skinniest of them stood by the hostages. Bomb Vest and the stocky one sat on the court reporters table watching and talking.

"What's the plan, Sergeant Bauer?" Jay asked. "Do we have anything positive here?"

"Believe it or not we do," the man said. "They didn't set a timeline for their demands to be met. That means we can come up with excuse after excuse to delay until we can either talk them out or figure out a breach plan."

"Or until they figure out they're being played and set one that jams us up," Adam's voice came from the door, Jay hadn't even heard him come in. "How are you even going to give them those excuses if you can't talk to them, the phone is still off the hook."

"They're gonna put it back on," Bauer assured. "They'll want to know where we're at. Just have some patience."

"When we next make contact, we update them, tell them where we are with locating Gaines," Carrillo continued. "Then we offer small concessions, bringing in food, water, first aid. We can use those things to smuggle some ears into your girl."

"Hailey," Jay corrected. It was the second time they had called her that, and he hated it. Hailey wasn't a girl, she was a grown-ass woman, a detective, and she had a name, they could learn it. "Her name is Hailey."

"Hailey," Carrillo nodded. "She's doing great in there, no doubt. But if we can hear what they're saying, and feed her what to ask, what to say, then might be able to help her talk them down completely."

*

"You know," Hailey spoke up nearly two hours after Athos had hung up on the SWAT negotiator. "They could have news by now."

"What's your point," D'Artagnan asked tiredly from his position near the Bailiff.

"How are you going to find if they've met your demands if they can't contact you?"

"You actually think they're going bring Gaines to us?" he let out a dry laugh. "Your boy and his cop buddies are out there plotting how best to kill us."

"Believe it or not," Hailey shrugged. "That's actually the last thing they want to do."

"Yeah, right." She could feel the eye roll more than she could see it.

"She's telling the truth," Anna chimed in. "They want what you want."

"Really they want Gaines dead in a ditch too," D'Artagnan mused sarcastically. "I doubt that."

"Not quite," Hailey admitted, her mind whirring. That was a slip, whether he realized it or not. If he were just a part of some ripped off party, he wouldn't have that attitude, that disdain in his voice. Was this more personal? "They don't want to see anyone leave this building in a body bag, including all of you. And you have a big thing going in your favour, you haven't hurt any of us. Not really, not as bad as you could have. It was the first thing your boss told us when you came in here. It's the truth, right?"

“I only want to hurt Gaines,” D'Artagnan huffed.

"Shut it," Porthos barked from the back door. "Don't make me tell you again."

"Okay," Hailey put her hands up. "Okay, I'm sorry."

"She makes a point," Aramis turned to Athos. "How are we gonna know if they have Gaines if we don't talk to them?"

"Let me think," Athos braced himself against the desk and punched it with a growl. "Why couldn't he just be here, he was supposed to be here."

"Gaines was here," Anna offered. "He and his lawyer took off when you came in shooting."

"Your genius idea," Athos shot at Porthos. 

"Hang the phone up," Hailey encouraged. "Let them call back. At the very least, you can see where they are in tracking Gaines down if they don't have him already."

He looked back and forth between Hailey and the rest of his crew before he nodded. He walked over to her and pulled her to her feet, his hand gripping her upper arm tight. "You're gonna answer the phone again," Athos instructed. "But this time I'm gonna put it on speaker. I shake my head you keep your trap shut, I nod you can answer their question, you don't say a word otherwise, good?"

Hailey nodded as he marched her over to the phone and put it back on the dock. Then they waited. And waited. The ringing of the phone finally broke through the air a tense five minutes later. She looked at Athos, and with his nod, she picked up the handset and pressed the speaker button. "Hello?"

"Hailey," Sergeant Bauer's voice came over the line. "Is that you?"

Athos nodded. "Yes, it is."

"How are things going in there Hailey?"

"Fine," she responded soon as Athos chin dipped down. "The floors a little hard, but we're all fine."

"That's good."

Athos held up a note he'd scribbled, and she read it. "They'd like to know what the status on Gaines is," she read. "Is he here yet?"

"You know we're having trouble tracking him down," the man on the phone sighed. "He and his lawyer fled after the courtroom was seized. He's not at his place, but we're still looking."

She spotted the inch of truth, they were looking for Gaines, but not to turn him over to these guys. "We got a van here though, its gassed and waiting. What would really be helpful is if we could get some kind of good-faith gesture."

Athos frowned at her and turned his wrist over a few times. "What do you mean by that?" Hailey interpreted.

"Maybe an exchange," Bauer proposed. "The keys to the van for the vest or better yet a hostage or two. Like the Bailiff, he should be checked out at the hospital, right?"

"Just a minute," Hailey watched as Athos scribbled on his notepad. She read it into the receiver. "No one is getting in or out until they have Gaines. Leave the keys in the cupholder. They'll put one of the guns at the opposite end of the courtroom. Get the roads clear, and they'll give up the rest."

"Okay," the negotiator acknowledged. "What about food? Or water? You've all been in there a while, people must be getting hungry. We can get you some take out, a few pizza's maybe, or some subs? Coffee's or water? Whatever you'd like."

Athos rose from his perch on the desk and leaned over the phone. "Everyone is fine, just get us, Gaines." 

With that, he disconnected the call and left the phone off the cradle once more. He looked up at Hailey and nodded. "Good job."

He didn't say anything else, just turned heel and headed to over to where Porthos stood guarding the Judge's door. Hailey knew herself to be dismissed and returned to her spot next to Anna.

*

In the truck just a few hundred yards away they all watched as Bomb Vest disconnected the call and left the phone off the hook for the second time. Adam picked up the chair he'd been leaning on and slammed it back onto the ground in frustration. "This is pointless!"

"We're making progress," Carrillo retorted. "Look"

On the screen, they could see Bomb Vest and Mr Big gesticulating wildly, arguing until the leader ripped the gun from the larger man's hands and marched towards the gallery. He removed the clip, checked the chamber and set the rifle down on the furthest bench at the back of the courtroom.

"Oh big deal," Adam snarled at her. "So they gave up one gun, they still have three more. We still have people and there and your great idea is to what? See if they want a picnic? You gonna offer them tea and scones next? How 'bout a little clotted cream?"

"Ruze," Jay stepped between his friend and the SWAT officer. "Chill out."

"Don't tell me what to do," he tried to shove Jay out of the way, but he wouldn't budge. So Adam pointed a threatening finger at Bauer over Jay's shoulder. "You need to get off your ass and get the tact team in there. Instead of just sitting in here, soft balling it and twiddling your thumbs. You're a cop, do your damn job."

"You need to get your man in line Sergeant Voight," Bauer cautioned. "Or I will kick you and your team off my scene, I don't care what Deputy Miller says."

"Kim, Kevin keep digging into the victims," Voight ordered over his shoulder. "Adam outside now."

"Sarge," Adam protested.

"Now!"

Jay watched as Voight all but frog-marched Adam out of the truck. He looked over to the others and raised a questioning eyebrow as if to say 'what the hell is up with him'. Kim just shook her head. "Your guess is as good as ours man," Kevin voiced for them both, and they returned to their computers.

"Jay," Voight called from the door. "With me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! Hope you're all doing well! I am slowly going insane in quarantine, but other than a headache and some lethargy the last couple of days, I've been good. I'm trying to get this back on a bit of a schedule, haven't decided yet whether it'll once a week or twice, but well I guess you'll know when I do. Enjoy

Jay closed the door to the mobile command centre just as Adam ripped arm free Voight's grasp. 

"I don't get it, Boss, why the Hell are we just sitting back and letting SWAT slow walk this?"

"Adam," Voight pinched the bridge of his nose. "I know you're frustrated. I understand."

"Do you?" the younger man accused. "We should be in there. We should be the ones leading this. If we were, then we could have put a stop to this ages ago."

"How?" their boss demanded. "Tell me what plan you have. Walk me through it step by step."

"First it's the doors," Adam started. "We know they're using steel wedges to block them right?" 

"We believe."

"Well Severide over at 51, he taught me how to kick those out, after the fire that killed Lexi. You find the void under the door and hit it them with the wedge of a halligan. They slide right out."

"And how are you going to do that without making noise and tipping them off?" Jay asked. "Pretty sure the sound of a sledge hitting halligan is gonna resonate."

"I won't need a sledge, I can kick the halligan, it shouldn't take a lot of force."

"Okay," Voight crossed his arms over his chest. "Which door are you going to enter through?"

"The judge's entrance."

"Where they've had a man on guard the entire time," Jay pointed out. "They'll start shooting before you turn the knob."

"Fine," Adam countered. "The main doors then." 

"Which are always in view and they will see the second they open," Voight shook his head. "And off goes that bomb. Adam, we don't have a play here."

"Oh come on, Sarge. That vest isn't real."

"You don't know that," Jay ran his hands through his hair in frustration. "You have no way of knowing that, and no offence, I'm gonna trust my gut over your's when it comes to explosives."

"I don't get you, man," Adam stepped up to him. "You more than anyone should be on my side with this."

"Why would you think that?"

"Because Hailey is in there," he shouted in Jay's face. "Hailey! Aren't you supposed to care about her? Or is it just sex for you, and forget her you 'cause you can get it somewhere else?"

"What did you just say?" 

"You heard me," Adam jeered.

"Say it again," Jay shoved the other man back a few steps. He remained silent. Jay grabbed his collar and pulled him close. "I said, _' say it, again.'"_

"Alright," Voight broke them up and walked Jay back with a hand on his chest. "Enough."

"Of course I want Hailey out of there, _I love her_ ," he glared. "But I also _trust_ her. She's got a handle on things in there, Adam. If we go storming the castle like you want that's when she in danger. That's when they're all in danger. And I will not let you do that to her, to them."

Adam stepped up to Jay again, and his open mouth to argue.

"Ruzek," Voight cut him off before he could start. "Take a walk."

"Boss, you serious?" Adam was gobsmacked.

"Jay's right Adam," Voight said. "You don't have a plan. SWAT is lead. You accept that and come back inside and do your job. Or you take a walk until you can."

"Unbelievable," the officer muttered as he stormed away.

"You good?" Voight asked Jay, his hand on his shoulder. It was solid, grounding, and Jay leaned into it.

"Yeah," he nodded. "I'm good Boss."

"Jay," Voight locked eyes with him, searching for any sign his head wasn't on right. 

"I'm okay, Sarge," Jay insisted. "Really. I'm worried, but I know Hailey, she can handle herself. She can handle this."

"She can," he agreed. "Let's go see how we can help her on our end. Ruzek will be back when he cools off."

_If he cools off_ , Jay thought and followed his boss back inside the command truck. On the monitors he could see Hailey talking to the perps, he wished to hear her voice. She looked fine, but Hailey always looked fine on the outside. She was the best of them when it came to hiding how she was feeling; pain, worry, fear, you'd never spot it on her face. But Jay would always hear it in her voice, a hitch in her throat that she wasn't quite able to catch. If he could just hear her, hear that her voice was as steady as she looked, then he could relax. 

"Got something," Kim called from her computer, snapping Jay out of his thoughts. They all gathered around her chair as the brunette pulled up several images on her screen. "This is the last vic Amelia Chen."

The young woman looked out at them from one of the photos. Smiling brightly as the wind at concrete beach blew her raven hair all over the place. "We've been assuming they're all white," Kevin looked over his shoulder at the perps on SWAT's monitor. "I guess one of them could be Asian-American."

"Don't count your chickens on that one," Kim pulled up another photo. Amelia's arms wrapped around an older man, with greying blond hair, deep brown eyes and undeniably Caucasian. "This is AJ Burks, Amelia's biological father."

"Been out of her life?" Voight asked.

"Yup," Kim affirmed. "He and her mother never married. Amelia took her step dad's last name when she was eight. Burks was in and out of her life for years, but it looks like they reconnected during the pandemic. She's got a bunch of different posts about it on her socials; how she found him, how happy she was to have him in her life, and how much she how fun it's been learning how to fly."

"Burks is a pilot?"

Kim nodded. "First for the Navy, then cargo for a private company after he was discharged. He also has a Cessna 206 registered in his name, guess where he keeps it."

"Bolingbrook's Clow," Voight guessed.

"Got it in one."

"What about the rest of them?" Bauer asked. "You think they all have a connection to the vics?"

"Could be," Voight nodded and looked back at his team. "Run Burks' MUDs and Tolls, check his computer, everything. I want to know who he's been communicating with. Kev, go check out his place, see what you can find. Kim call bomb squad, get them there too, just to be safe."

Kevin stood up and grabbed his coat. "Burgess, you wanna text me that address?"

"You got it."

"And Kev?" Voight called as Atwater opened the door. "Take Ruzek with you."

The younger man looked around the room for his partner. "Where is Ruze?"

*

Hailey finished up another check on Lewis, he still had a headache, a little worse than before, but no other symptoms. She left the man with another reassuring smile and headed back to her spot.

"Excuse me," a woman, one of the jurors, grabbed her attention. "Miss?"

"Yeah," Hailey crouched next to her.

"You're a Nurse, right?"

"Yes, ma'am, I am," she lied. "Are you alright?" She didn't look it, she was pale, and her breathing was a little laboured. 

The woman shook her head. "I don't know what's wrong."

"That's alright," Hailey placed a comforting hand on her knee. "Let's start simple, what's your name?"

"Cynthia Ryker."

"Okay, Cynthia," she nodded. "I'm Hailey, can you describe how you're feeling?"

"Lightheaded," the woman swallowed thickly. "My head has been swimming for like half an hour now."

"Do you have a headache at all?"

"A bit," the woman responded. "But that's kind of gone away. Now I just feel shaky, a little like I'm in a fog."

Hailey nodded. "What did you have for breakfast today?"

"Not a lot," Cynthia answered. "Coffee, and a granola bar. I'm not really a big eater in the morning."

"When was the last time you drank anything?"

"It was probably the coffee at breakfast."

"Are you hypoglycaemic?" Hailey continued. "Or a Diabetic?"

"No," Cynthia shook her head. "I have a few allergies, but no other health issues."

"Okay," Hailey smiled. "I'm just gonna perform a quick test, are you okay if I touch you?"

At her nod, Hailey reached out and pinched up a bit of skin on the back of the woman's hand. She held the pinch for a few seconds and let go. It was slow to retract. Cynthia was hungry, but that was less of a concern she was also dehydrated, they all likely were. Hailey had a bit of a headache herself. "Does anyone else have a headache?" she asked the group.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Aramis asked.

Hailey ignored him. "Anyone?" About two-thirds of the group raised their hands. 

"How about you guys?" She looked over her shoulder to the crew. They remained quiet. "You know, the police were genuine in their offer of food and water. Maybe you can call them back and have them bring some supplied in."

"So they can deliver it with a battering ram," Porthos rolled his eyes. It as the first time he had spoken since his gun had been taken away. He'd been stewing in the corner ever since. 

"All these headaches, this woman's wooziness, it's dehydration. And it's _going_ to get worse. That includes you guys too," Hailey shot back and looked to Athos. "Some water at the very least. It would be a way of keeping your word not to hurt us; that's how the police would see it. How did Sergeant Bauer, phrase it, a sign of good faith?'"

Hailey knew that SWAT would try and use food containers to get some kind of listening device in, but she could worry about that later. They could go for days without food. But water? They needed that as quick as they could. "You can even specify. An unopened case, clear bottles, hell even the brand. That way you know they aren't trying to smuggle something in." 

The man didn't say a word, but Hailey could see the gears turning in his head. "If you can honestly tell me that you aren't even a little thirsty, then I'll sit back down. But one of the symptoms of dehydration is confusion, poor decision making. You don't think the cops are going to try and take advantage of that?"

Athos thought a moment longer and finally gave a small nod. Hailey bit back her grin as the man marched over to the desk and put the phone back on the cradle. She held her breath and counted the seconds in her head. One a thousand, two a thousand, three a thousand, four a thousa - BANG, the back door burst open.

Hailey sprang to her feet, as a blur moved through the door and knocked into D'Artagnan. The rat-a-tat of a gun filled the air. Hailey saw one of the men who jumped up alongside her collapsed to the floor. Hailey moved to see where he was injured when a searing pain shot through side; she didn't even realize that she was falling until she hit the floor. 

She wasn't sure what was happening, where it was loud only seconds before, now it was like the sound dropped out of the world. Her head was pounding, her eyes weren't focusing, and ceiling above her head left ghost trails as it spun. A familiar figure came into view, black hair, brown eyes, she knew who it was, she just couldn't place it.

"…Good?" they asked as the sound snapped back on, and Hailey's mind shot back into focus. Anna, it was Anna. "Hailey, can you hear me? Are you alright?"

Hailey nodded and tried to sit up, but the lawyer held her down. "Hailey you've been shot, you shouldn't move."

"What's going on?" Hailey asked as she looked around.

"They have Adam," Anna whispered. "The big guy got in a few good hits before the other two pulled him away. The guy who was guarding the door was out for a minute, but he's back up now, trying to shake it off. They're all freaking out."

"I saw someone fall."

"It was one of the jurors. He got shot in the leg; I have people putting pressure on it."

Hailey turned her head to the side and saw Aramis pinning a struggling figure to the ground. Ruzek, her mind registered, what the hell was he doing here? Where were the others? D'Artagnan was sitting against the judge's bench, his head in his hands, shaking. 

"What are we gonna do now, man?" she heard the young man call out and turned her head to follow his gaze. Porthos and Athos were at the door, guns a the ready for anyone else who dared enter. "We're dead. We are so dead."

"Calm down," Hailey croaked.

"What?" Porthos looked down at her.

"You need to keep calm," she sat up.

"Hailey," Anna admonished and tried to guide the blonde back down.

Hailey shook her off. She was feeling fine; the adrenaline was doing its job. "If you lose your heads now, things are going to get worse, fast."

"They already are worse," the giant argued. "They just sent in a cop. More will be here any second."

"No," Hailey shook her head and pressed her hand to her side. She was bleeding bad, but she had to focus. "If there were more of them, they'd be in here by now. Bar the door again. Kick the wedges in as hard as you can, and keep it manned."

"Hailey," she heard Adam's voice from across the room. She ignored him.

"This this your boy?" Porthos shook him.

" _God, no._ "

"This wasn't supposed to happen," Athos shook his head, his voice thick with emotion. "This was never the plan."

"I know that," Hailey assured. "This was an accident. If he hadn't burst in here, this never would have happened. But can you bring him over here? Please? I'm pretty sure that juror is worse off than me, and he's a cop, he knows first aid, I'll need his help."

Hailey crawled, supported by Anna to the injured man. "Hailey, you're bleeding really bad, can you do this?"

"Yup," gritted her teeth. "Move aside, guys."

The group that had been crowding around the man parted, and she shuffled closer. He was pale and sweaty. "Sir, can you hear me?" Hailey asked as she removed the coat they'd been using as trauma pad. He didn't answer. She looked down at the wound and groaned. He'd been high in the thigh. The blood was bright and pulsing out of the bullet hole. She was pretty sure they'd hit an artery. She heard a grunt come from the man's side and held out her hand. "Give me your belt."

"Hails," Adam's voice was gentle, pleading.

"Belt, now," Hailey ordered. She wanted to glare at him, but she refused to look up. If she looked at him, she would either scream at him or hit him, or both. This wasn't the time or the place. He pressed the belt into her hand, and she worked it under the man's leg, threaded it through the bucked and passed it back to Adam. He cinched it down as tight as he could, Hailey watched the jurors face for any signs that he was feeling any of it, but he didn't even twitch. It wasn't a good sign. She passed Adam the coat, and he pressed it to the wound with all his weight. "What are you doing here?" she hissed, finally daring to look at her friend.

"They sent me in to try and get the drop on them," Adam said through gritted teeth. "We were just trying to get everyone out of here, didn't think this would happen." 

Hailey took a breath and let it out slowly; she needed a second to think. "Okay," she looked over her shoulder to the rest of the hostages. "I know everyone is a little shaken up, but who is feeling alright? Like they could work if they had to?"

About a half dozen raised their hands. "Good," Hailey swallowed as pain tore through her side. The adrenaline that had kept her going so long was fading. She was going downhill fast. "You're all going to help this man, okay?"

The group nodded. "Get yourselves lined up beside the officer. You're going to take it in shifts to keep pressure on his leg. You press down as hard as you can for as long as you can. The minute you feel yourself letting up, you trade-off with the next person and get back in line. Understood?"

The small group nodded and started to move beside Adam. Hailey looked up at her ex. "You got them?"

"Copy you," he nodded. Hailey crawled backwards her arms, giving out along the way. She crashed to the ground, hard. "Hailey!" 

"Shut up," she snapped at him and propped herself upright as Adam lifted his hands off the injured juror. "Get back to him, focus on him."

"I got her," Anna tucked in behind her, and pressed another jacket to her injured side.

"Hey," Hailey called over to Athos. The man had watched the whole exchange. "Look I know this isn't what you wanted to have happen. I know that. You were going to make the call. If they hadn't sent the cop in, we'd all be sipping on some water right now. You were going to take care of us, and I will tell the cops that, _I promise_. But that man, he needs medical attention. Now. Or he _will_ die. And there is nothing that I can say that'll help you if he does. _Please_ , he needs a doctor."

"So do you."

"I do," Hailey nodded, it was a mistake, her head swam at the motion. "Please, you never wanted to hurt us, I believe that, but you…you have…"

The darkness that had been swimming at the edge of her vision swarmed her, and her world went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I was going to wait and just keep my updates to once a week, try and spread out the rest of my time in quarantine. But then my roommate showed me the crap storm going on on Twitter (again), so I felt like putting something more positive out there. I know seeing hate towards a ship, character and (especially) actor suck, but remember try not to feed the trolls! Enjoy.

"I sent Adam for a walk," Voight told Kevin. "He needed a few minutes to cool down."

"I'll give him a call," Kim said, pulling out her phone. "Tell him to meet you at the car. He can't be too—"

"Guys," Carrillo's panicked voice cut in.

They all turned and followed her gaze to the monitors. Hailey was on the ground, bleeding, Jay felt his heart drop into his stomach as the blood rushed in his ears. Hailey, bleeding, how had it happened? How bad was it? He couldn't tell. What if she —

"We got three people down in there," Kim's voice broke him out of his dark thoughts. "How did this happen?

"He's how," Carrillo pointed at a different screen. On his knees in front of Mr Big, Adam was there, taking blow after blow from the behemoth. 

"What in the hell?" Kevin shook his head. 

"Your man just screwed us," Carrillo hissed. "SWAT is lead on this, which one of you sent him in there?"

"None of us," Voight growled. 

Jay felt his stomach twist into a knot. Had it been some sort of code when Voight sent Adam for that walk? Something they had worked out between themselves, like with Antonio? It definitely wasn't unheard of for his boss to go over another team leader's head to get the results he wanted. But Voight had seemed just as against Adam's plan as the rest of them. Jay couldn't be sure; it was tough to get a read on Hank Voight even after all these years of working for the man.

"We've got to go in there, now," Kim shook her head. "We don't have a choice anymore."

"We go in, and the same thing happens again, only worse. They are on high alert in there. There is no way we're getting in without more bullets flying," Bauer glowered at them. "If I see a single member of Intelligence try and leave this truck unless I give the go-ahead, I will have your badges before your shoes can touch pavement. Sergeant Voight?" He gestured with his head, and their boss followed the SWAT commander out the door.

The rest of the team looked at the monitor again. Hailey was moving now, shuffling across the floor over to the injured hostage, but the blood staining her side was still spreading. They needed to get her out of there. They needed to get them all out of there. Hailey said something over her shoulder on the screen, and they watched as Burks dragged Adam over and shoved him to his knees across from Hailey. Together they tied off the injured man's leg, and Adam applied pressure with a discarded jacket. More hostages gathered around, as Hailey stumbled away. Jay felt like throwing up when he saw her collapse against Valdez. She was pale, paler even than the time they all got food poisoning from Mouch's cinnamon roll casserole that Trudy had forced them all to eat. Hailey was a fighter, but adrenaline only lasted so long before it faded As if his thoughts were prophecy he watched as Hailey went limp in Valdez's arms. 

"Oh, God. Hailey," Kim's voice quavered from near his shoulder.

Jay closed his eyes and gripped the back of the chair he was holding. He wanted to offer Kim some comfort, a hug, a shoulder squeeze, something, anything, but he couldn't. He needed to keep his focus on controlling the rage he could feel trickling through his veins. He was going to kill Adam. He was absolutely going to kill him. Then he was going to have Will revive him and kill him all over again.

"What's going on?" Jay heard Voight ask from behind him, but it sounded far away. He could feel the blood rushing in his ears, as his mind whirred, and his team's voices fell away. They needed to get in there, ASAP, but Sergeant Bauer was also right. If they went in, guns blazing it would be a blood bath. His eyes darted to the monitor again and looked at the crew. The skinny one was still sitting on the floor, holding his head in his hands, but the other three were huddled together, talking. Bomb Vest - Burks - ran his hands through his hair and wiped his face under the mask. Every so often he turned and looked at the hostages over his shoulder -no, it Jay like a brick. Burks wasn't looking at the hostages. He was looking at Hailey. 

"I think I have an in."

Bauer looked up from where he stood in a hushed argument with Voight. "What did you say?"

"Burks," Jay met the sergeant's eye. "I think I have a way to connect with him, get us in there."

"Because the last plan a member of Intelligence came up with was so great," Carrillo spat. "We don't need you guys telling us how to do our jobs."

"That's not what I'm trying to do, I swear," Jay defended. "Sergeant Bauer, if you don't like what I say to him if you think it's gonna do more harm than good, then you can cut off the call, and I won't say another damn thing. But please, you have got to let me try."

"Do it," the man nodded.

Jay grabbed the headset while the Bauer dialled in the number. He closed his eyes and waited. And waited. And waited. For five rings, until finally there was the click of the receiver being picked up. He could hear breathing on the other side of the line. "AJ Burks," Jay said, his eyes watching the man on the monitor as he spoke.

"You know who I am?" 

"We do," Jay nodded though he knew the man couldn't see him. "We know you served this country with distinction for many years in the Navy. We know you live at 3628 Flournoy Street. And we know that Amelia Chen was your daughter. Just like I'm sure you're aware that we've been watching you on the security cameras. Mr Burks, we know that there are people hurt in there, that shots have been fired."

"You shouldn't have sent in that cop," the man shouted. "It never would have happened if he hadn't come in here."

"I know," Jay said. "I agree with you, that officer should never have gone in there. But Mr Burks, you have three people down now, four really, you got a man hurt too. They all need medical attention."

"Well then maybe you should work on getting Richard Gaines here a little faster."

A part of Jay wanted to laugh, wasn't it Adam who had said something about them setting an impossible time frame? He was going to kill him. "Mr Burks," Jay took a breath. "Sir, I know that you lost your daughter - "

"No," the man cut him off. "I didn't lose Amelia. She was taken from me. From her mother." 

"You're right," Jay hurried to put in, he could feel Bauer moving behind him. "You're right. Gaines and his drugs, they took Amelia from you. I can't imagine how hard that has been. On all of you."

"What do you mean?"

"I can't prove it yet, but I'd be willing to bet that those men in there with you, they all lost someone because of Gaines too. Am I right?"

The man stayed silent, but Jay saw on the screen that he was still listening.

"Mr Burks," Jay continued. "Gaines took someone you love from you. Believe me; I understand your desire for revenge. But what do you think is going to happen next? You lost someone you love. But everyone in that room with you is loved by someone. They are a mother. A father. A son or daughter, sister or brother. A friend. A partner. You go on trial for this, and then their families come after you, hold your courtroom hostage and the cycle of revenge goes on forever. That can't be what you want. It's not what Amelia would want. "

"You didn't know my daughter."

"No, I didn't," Jay acknowledged. "I never met her. But I have talked to a lot of people who did. People who loved her, who miss her. And all those people, they all described her the same way: smart, kind, adventurous and compassionate. Amelia was a good person. One who made a mistake, like all of do. She didn't deserve to die because of it. None of them did. But, Mr Burks, no one in there does either. Hailey doesn't."

There was another pause on the line before Jay heard the man clear his throat. "You're her guy?"

"I am, Mr Burks," he confirmed. "I've sat here for hours, angry, watching her on a small monitor. She was there to help you today. To testify against the man who took your daughter from you. To help but him behind bars. To do the right thing, for Amelia. And Brittany. Layla. Marco. Piper. John. Nicholas. Hailey wanted to help them, to help you. So, Sir, I am begging you, please. Do the right thing, for your daughter, for all the victims, open the doors, let the hostages go. Let us get them to the hospital. Let us get your man to the hospital."

On the screen, Jay could see the man's shoulders start to shake. "Mr Burks, please, don't make me watch the woman I love die."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay, meant to post this on Wednesday, but got slammed into a bit of a funk when I found out I have to stay in quarantine for another 10 days. As much as the new Covid rules in my province make sense, I am going crazy shut up in my house. I miss work. Anyways, enough of the self-pity party, it ain't what you're here for. Here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy!

Jay always paced when he was nervous. It was a habit that he'd had his entire life. If something were troubling him, then he'd pace in whatever space he could. He paced the school hallway's when he was twelve, as he waited for his parents to finish up with the principal after his first fight. He walked up and down the plane while the rest of his platoon slept each time he was deployed, trying hard not to trip on peoples feet. He marched around the doctor's office in a spiral as he and his mom waited for her test results when she first got sick. And he paced now, from one end of the Gaffney Medical Center waiting room to the other as he waited for news on Hailey. He wasn't sure why he did it. Maybe a part of him thought the bad thoughts, the dark memories, couldn't catch him and take hold of his mind if he just kept moving. Again and again, Jay moved in the alley between the seats filled with his fellow officers. Med was filled with his team members, SWAT, Anna Valdez, and a litany of other officers and detectives. On his next circuit, Jay chanced a glance at the clock; it had been four hours since they'd arrived at the hospital. What was taking so long?

*

"… Please, don't make me watch the woman I love die," Jay begged the man on the other end of the line. 

He saw Burks look over at Hailey again. She was on the ground now, Anna above her, pressing her jacket to her stomach. A small pool of blood was slowly growing beside her, staining the cream tiles of the courtroom floor.

"Give me five minutes," Burks said, then the line went dead.

People rushed all around him, as they sprung into action. Bauer barked orders at his team, assembling the tact squad, and ordering them ready to breach. Voight was doing the same with Intelligence. He had Kevin radio for ambos and sent Kim outside to clear the way for them. It was organized chaos, loud and hurried, but Jay heard none of it. His full attention was focused on the monitors. Inside the courtroom, Burks had stripped the other two crew members of their guns and chucked them up on the judge's bench, the big man shouting at him the entire time. They tussled over one of the rifles until Burks snapped and took a swing. He connected solidly with the larger man's jaw, and there was something deeply satisfying to Jay about watching the mountain of a man crumple to the ground in a heap. It was impressive, and he fought to hold back a smirk. Jay may have been an army man, but even he knew that a person didn't just luck into second place of the US Navy Boxing Championships. Apparently flying wasn't the only thing Burks kept up with after his discharge. He watched as the man zip cuffed his fallen comrade, and said a quick word to the other two. The other men shifted onto their knees and locked their hands behind their heads as Burks went to the main doors and kicked out the steel slates jamming them. Then he stripped off the best, set it in the far corner of the room and joined his remaining men on the floor.

SWAT breached a minute later, cuffing the offenders and bringing them to their feet. Jay didn't move from his spot until the medics rolled in and loaded Hailey onto a gurney. "I'm going with her," he tossed over his shoulder to the rest of his team as he raced out the doors of the command centre.

He met them outside, Brett and the new girl, Mackey. "I'm going with you."

"Hurry up," the blonde medic replied, her focus solely on Hailey.

Mackey drove while Brett stayed in the back and worked on trying to control the bleeding. Hailey was beyond pale now; she was grey. Jay had seen people look like that overseas, and on the job, it was never a good sign. His feet started to bounce as he listened to the beeping of the heart rate monitor, it was slow, too slow, but at least it was still beeping. As long as it beeped a steady rhythm Hailey was still alive, still fighting. There was still hope.

It felt like hours until they arrived at Med, though in reality, it couldn't have been more than a handful of minutes. When the doors opened, his brother was there, at the ready with a team of doctors and nurses. Will held him back as Hailey was wheeled into Baghdad, gripping Jay's shoulders tight as he spoke reassuring words in his ear. Doing his best to promise Jay that Hailey would be alright, without actually saying the words, just in case it was a promise he couldn't keep.

Will took him out to the waiting room and sat with him until the rest of Intelligence arrived. "I'll bring you news when I can," Will clapped Jay on the shoulder one last time before he headed back into the ED to help treat the incoming victims. "Hailey's in good hands."

*

"Would you sit down, man," Adam's voice broke Jay out of his thoughts. "You're making me dizzy."

Jay glared down at him where he sat in a chair, icing his ribs. Adam had been seen, treated and released in less than twenty minutes after he arrived. And he'd sat fuming beside Kim ever since. "Excuse me?"

"Look," Adam raised a hand in defence. "I'm just saying, you pacing isn't gonna make time go by faster."

Jay clenched his hands into fists. "You need to stop talking, right now." 

"Something you want to say?" Ruzek rose from his chair.

"Yeah," Jay took a step into Adam's space. "Why are you even here? Why do you get to sit here and pretend that you care about Hailey? While she's back there, with a bullet in her."

"Jay," Kim stood up and placed a hand on his arm.

"No," he pulled away from her and took another step forward. Adam backed up. "This is your fault. This is _all_ your fault. You were given an order that _you_ didn't like so you ignored it. We told you something like this would happen, but you did it anyway. And now we're here."

"I wanted to help!"

"But, _you didn't_ ," Jay roared. "And now Hailey's paying for it! All because you had to prove that you knew better. Better than SWAT, better than Voight, better than all of us. All of this, because you needed to be the hero."

"I wanted to get her out of there," Adam snapped back and pointed a finger in Jay's face. "Unlike you! You say you care about Hailey, that you love her. But you just sat around doing nothing! The whole time she was in there, you did nothing."

Jay glared at him, his jaw twitching. "You have two seconds to get your finger out of my face before I —"

"Hey!" Trudy barked from behind them, cutting off Jay's threat. "Look at where you are. You are not doing this here."

The two men stared each other down for a minute before Kevin guided Jay over to one side of the waiting room, and Kim marched Adam to the other. 

"You good, Jay?" Kevin placed a hand on his shoulder.

"What the hell is taking so long," Jay gritted his teeth. Will had promised them updates, but he hadn't even seen a glimpse of his brother's red hair since he left them hours ago.

"Hey," Kevin shook his head. "Don't do that, bro. You've been in Hailey's corner all day, don't leave it now. She's got this. You know she does."

Jay nodded and dropped his head into his hands while Kevin kept up a mantra of reassuring words. Jay matched his breathing to it. In with one sentence, out with the next, over and over until his heart rate slowed back down. Kevin didn't let up until Jay lifted his head and sat back in his seat. "I'mma go get some coffee, you want one?" Kevin offered.

"Nah, man," Jay shook his head. "I'm good, thanks."

The two bumped fists and Kevin slapped Jay's shoulder comfortingly, one last time before the larger man headed to the cafeteria. Jay settled in the chair and closed his eyes, his foot bouncing as he went back to waiting. And waiting.

"Jay," the younger Halstead shot out of his seat the second his brother's voice reached his ears, twenty minutes later. He rushed to where Will stood, the team hot on his heels. 

"How is she?" Voight questioned before Jay could find his voice.

"She's going to be fine," Will smiled at them. Jay leaned into his older brother and let out a relieved sigh.

"What's the prognosis," Trudy asked.

"The bullet was a through and through. It hit Hailey high on her left side. It missed her lung, but it did lacerate her spleen. Dr Marcel had to perform surgery to remove it, but he was able to do it laparoscopically. She'll need to take it easy for a few weeks, but she should make a full recovery."

Murmurs of praise and thanks to God rose all around the room. "She should be waking up from the anaesthesia soon," Will continued, he looked at Jay and gestured with his head. "Follow me."

*

Jay walked hot on Will's heels through the ED and onto the elevator. "I want you to prepare yourself okay?" Will cautioned as the car rose. "Hailey's recovering. She's going to be sore and tired. Between the anaesthetic and the pain meds, she might be a little out it for a while. Just keep that in mind, alright?"

"But she's going to be okay?"

"If Hailey's not chomping at the bit to get back to work inside a week, I'll eat my stethoscope," Will joked and placed a hand on his shoulder. "She'll be fine little brother, I promise."

Will led him through the halls on the second floor and stopped outside a room. "Remember what I said."

"Yeah," Jay nodded.

"I'm here if you need me," the redhead said. "Just tell the nurse to page me."

Jay nodded again. "Hey, Will?" 

"Yeah?"

"Thank you," he reached out and pulled his older brother in for a hug.

"Always," Will pulled back and patted Jay on the shoulder. "Give Hailey my best. I'll try and drop in on her when I can."

"Sounds good," Jay smiled and finally walked into the room.

The sight of her made all the air rush out of his lungs. Hailey was laying on the bed, her hair fanned out over the pillow, she had more colour than the last time he saw her, but she was still pale. And she looked so small. He often forgot how much smaller Hailey was than him. He put that down to how she carried herself, confidently, with a ferocity and grace he'd not seen in anybody else. But there was no denying it now, she was tiny, and that was a scary thing to admit. Jay took a breath and sat in the seat at her side. He reached out and took her limp hand in his, squeezing it he rubbed his thumb over the back of her cold knuckles. Hailey groaned at the contact.

"Hailey," Jay whispered. "You awake?"

Hailey turned her head to the sound of his voice, and her eyes fluttered open. He didn't think he'd ever been happier to see them. "Hey," she croaked eventually.

"Hey there," he smiled. "Didn't think you'd be up so soon. How you feeling?"

"I've definitely been better," she winced. "What's the damage?"

"You're down a spleen," he shook his head. "But overall you got really lucky."

"How have you done this so many times," she groaned. "I feel like I got hit by a truck."

"Well, you look beautiful," Jay replied.

Even half asleep and doped up on who knew how many pain killers, Hailey was still able to shoot the most incredulous look his way. Jay let out a chuckled and shook his head, yeah, she was going to be just fine. He leaned over carefully and pressed his lips to hers. Her hand came up, a little clumsily to thread through his hair, pulling him closer, deeper. Beside him Jay heard the familiar beeping sound that he had clung to in the ambulance, tick up a little.

"Hailey Anne Upton," he pulled back with a smirk. "Do I make your heart skip a beat?"

Hailey let out a soft chuckle and then a groan. Her hands shot to her side. "Don't make me laugh."

"Sorry," he smiled and pressed another kiss to her lips before he sat back down. He picked up her hand again and stroked some of her hair away from her face. "You scared the crap outta me today, Hailey."

"Now you know how it feels," she shot back. "Not, so fun being in the chair, huh?"

Jay shook his head. "You were also amazing. I am so proud of how you handled things in there. I'm pretty sure SWAT wants to try and poach you."

Hailey moaned as she repositioned herself on the bed, trying to sit up. "Hey, take it easy," Jay reached out to help her.

"If I was doing so great," Hailey settled back against the pillows. "Then why did you guys send Adam in?"

Jay's brain screeched to a halt. "What?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Also, a random question for an upcoming story, if the Intelligence members were Olympic athletes, which sports do you think they'd participate in? I know Jays ( I have multiple ideas for a few of them, but I am curious what you guys think.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all, here is the next chapter, hope you enjoy!

"Can you believe Jay," Adam muttered to Kim as they sat back in their chairs. The detective followed his brother out of the waiting room without so much as a glance in their direction. And now here they were, waiting again, for the chance to see Hailey. "I thought he was going to punch my nose in for a minute there."

"Yeah Adam," Kim sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. "I can. I wouldn't have blamed him if he had."

"What?" His jaw dropped open. She had to be joking.

"Adam, you went so far off-book today that you were in a whole different section of the library," the brunette shook her head. "This is bad. How do you not see that?"

"Are you serious right now?" he gawked at her in disbelief. "Kim, Hailey was in there. Our friend was in danger. I had to get her. I had to protect her."

"And instead you got her shot," she countered. "All because you didn't trust her."

"I don't trust her? I don't trust Hailey," he stood from his chair and turned on his ex. "Are you kidding me?"

"No, Adam," Kim frowned. "I'm not."

"She's my friend Kim," he insisted. "She was jammed up, and no one was doing anything to help her. So I did."

"She had it handled, Adam," Kim reiterated as she rubbed at her temples. She'd been fighting off a headache ever since she saw Hailey on the screens in the command centre, and now it was hitting her full force. "Everyone was telling you that. Sergeant Bauer, Voight, Jay. Me. She was fine, and we were working out a plan. But you went in anyway. Why?"

"I told you why."

"Oh come on, don't give me that," she accused. "Hailey is a cop. She is in danger every day, every shift. We all are. But you are the only one who got worked up today. You're the only one who went against orders. And honestly Adam, you only did it because it was Hailey."

"I'm sorry," he stammered. "What - what are you doing? What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that if it were Kevin or Jay or even Voight in that room, then you would have let things play out like you were told."

"That's different," he defended and flopped back into his chair. He could not believe they were having this conversation.

"You're right," Kevin, who'd been listening to their argument, finally spoke up. Adam smiled. It was nice to have some backup, finally. "Jay's a detective, and we've both been on the job longer than you have."

"See," Adam smirked at Kim.

"But Hailey's also both of those things," Kevin finished.

"You too, man?" Adam looked over at Kevin, forlorn. "Come on."

"Sorry, Ruze," Kevin shrugged. "I don't think you have a whole lot of ground here, bro."

"Look, Adam," Kim leaned in. "Whether you want to admit it or not, when it comes to Hailey and me, if we're involved in something you don't like, you react. You punch suspects, who have done nothing but say something rude to a cop."

"Oh come one that happened once," he interjected.

"Twice," Kevin corrected. "At least."

"Not helping, dude," Adam glared at the other man. 

Kevin just shrugged again and nodded at Kim to continue. She could say it better than he could.

"Do you honestly think that before we met you, Hailey and I were never called names by a suspect or on a scene?" Kim asked. "Or worse. If I had a dime for every time something like that happened, I could probably retire to the Caribbean."

She sat back in her chair. "But you do things like that. And you rush into scenes when you've been ordered to stand down. You run with _your_ gut, always, despite what everyone else around you is telling you to do. _Despite what we tell you you do._ Face it, you don't trust us as much as you do the guys."

"I trust you both with my life," he crossed his arms and turned his head. He couldn't even look at Kim. They had been engaged for Christs sakes, how could she think about him like this?

"But you don't trust us with ours," she insisted. "That's all I'm saying, Adam."

"I can't believe that none of you on my side with this," he got to his feet and took to pacing the floor. "And now what? You're trying to say I'm sexist?"

"Let's just all take a beat, alright," Kevin raised a hand for calm. "Halstead'll be back soon. We'll see our girl, give her some love, and then we can get some rest. I think we all need that right now. We can pick this up in a later, talk it out when we've had time to process, let's just let it alone for now."

Kim nodded in agreement and moved to sit next to Kevin. Adam watched as the two best friends cuddled up together as best they could in the uncomfortable hospital chairs. He wasn't jealous, the two of them had never been like that, and he doubted they ever would be, but it did make him feel alone. "Come on, Ruze," Kevin kicked the seat on his other side. "Sit down, get some ice back on those ribs. We'll sort this out. I promise."

Adam took a breath and nodded. He didn't like it, but Kevin was right. They were all just too hot right now. They needed to see Hailey, that would help.

*

Jay kept Hailey all to himself for thirty minutes before she told him to go and let the others up. His had barely set foot into the waiting room before the team surrounded him. "How is she?" Kim asked.

He put a hand on her shoulder and smiled. "She's alright."

The team let out their collective breaths. "She's sore and tired. But she wants to see you guys before she falls asleep again. Second floor, room 205."

Kevin and Kim rushed past him to the elevators as soon as the words left his mouth. Adam moved to join them, but Jay stopped him with a hand on his chest. "What are you doing, man?" He demanded and tried to sidestep around him, but Jay followed, blocking him off.

"Not you."

"You can't stop me seeing her," Adam pushed his hand away. "You can't make that choice for her."

Jay's let out an annoyed huff; it was like the man was irony deficient. "You told her we sent you in."

At least he had the decency to looked ashamed. 

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Jay continued. "Hailey was shot, _bleeding_ , and you told her that we sent you in there. She could have died, and you didn't even have the stones to admit that you screwed up. You had to make her think that she's the one who made a mistake. That in all she did, she still hadn't done enough."

Adam refused to meet his eye. 

"Hailey will call you in a couple of days," Jay relayed for her. "Once she's sure she isn't going bust her stitches yelling at you. But for now, leave her the hell alone."

"Jay," Adam tried to plead. "Come on, man."

He just shook head and looked over the other man's shoulder. "Sarge, you coming?"

"Tell Hailey I'll be up in a few," Voight gestured his head at Ruzek and Jay nodded his understanding. "But if she falls asleep before I get there, that's fine. She needs it."

"You got it," Jay nodded again and headed back to the elevator, leaving their boss along with Adam. 

"Sarge," the younger man tried to start, but Voight cut him off with a raised hand.

"You were told to stand down," he stated calmly. "I don't know how many times. You were told to back off. To let Hailey work them, while we worked on a way get comms into her. While we sorted out a plan to get everyone out safely. But you went ahead anyway."

"I know," Adam stuffed his hands into his pockets. "I just…"

"It's not the first time stepped in for a teammate when you shouldn't have," Voight pointed out when he trailed off.

"Sarge if you're talking Antonio, this was different."

"Yeah, it is," the sergeant nodded. "This time, you had even less of a reason to do what you did. And now, Adam, I don't know if there's a way out of it for you."

"You think I'm going to take heat for this?" the officer looked up in surprise.

"People got hurt, Adam," Voight reminded him. "Not just Hailey. A juror went down in that whole mess too, and we have no idea how he is. Things were contained with Antonio. There were only three people who knew what went down that day. But what you did today there's no cover for you. There's video, transcripts, not to mention the entire team and all of SWAT know that you went off the rails. There's no burying it this time. So yeah, I think you're gonna catch heat, and I don't know how much."

Adam ran a hand through his hair. "What do I do Boss?"

"Go home," Voight advised. "We'll see how this plays out. You know I'll do what I can for you, Adam, but I won't make any promises."

"And what about Hailey?"

"You do what she asked," he said in a tone that brokered no argument. "Give her time. Wait for her to reach out. And don't be surprised when she takes a swing at you."

Adam nodded and turned heel, heading out of the main doors. Voight waited until Adam was out of sight before he moved. But before the sergeant could make it through the doors, a familiar voice called out his name. Voight looked over his shoulder and saw Deputy Superintendent Miller walking through the doors Ruzek had just left.

"Sam," he greeted with a nod.

"Hank," she returned. "How's our detective doing?"

Voight smiled at her choice of words. "She's good. Down a spleen, but the doctors think she'll be back to normal after a few weeks of rest and light duty."

"Have you seen her yet?"

"No, Ma'am," he shook his head. "I'm just on my way up now."

"Well," the woman nodded. "I won't keep you long. I figured you might want to prepare her. Superintendent Crawford has been talking about accommodation since the news broke. He wants a big how-to-do. A ceremony, press, dress blues, the works. I don't know Detective Upton well, but none of that really seems like her style."

"I'll give her the heads up," Voight grinned. 

Miller wasn't wrong. While Hailey was driven and ambitious in her career, and second only to Halstead when it came to awards, it wasn't out of a desire for the hardware or notoriety. Hailey was out purely to be the best cop she could be and get results for their victims and their families. And she was good at it. The rest was just a byproduct of that. She'd hate the pomp and circumstance, but Voight also knew she'd accept it with little complaint. He had told Hailey once that Chicago needed a hero in blue, and that was even more true now.

"And please, give her my best," Miller asked. "I hope she's back on her feet soon."

"I will," Voight said. "Thank you."

With a nod of her head, the Deputy headed back out the doors. As he had with Adam, Voight waited until he could no longer see her before he, finally, headed up to see Hailey.

*

"Alright Detective," Dr Marcel drawled and took a step back from Hailey's bedside late the following afternoon. "Everything looks like it's doing good. No redness around incisions, no discharge, and you're running at a normal temperature. Now, how's your pain?"

"Better now that you're not poking me," Hailey tried to keep the grumble out of her voice. A nurse, a doctor, or a med student had poked and prodded at her all night. Checking her over for signs of infection and who knows what else. For people that kept telling her to rest every time she tried to move, they had certainly done their best to make sure she didn't get any. And while she knew that wasn't exactly fair. They were doing their jobs, and she was appreciative, but she was also tired and in pain. So being fair wasn't exactly something high on her priority list at that moment.

"How about on a scale of one to ten?" the handsome doctor chuckled. 

"I don't know," Hailey shrugged. "A three, maybe."

"That means a five, at least." 

Hailey shot Jay a glare from across the room. "I swear to God, Jay if I have to stay in this hospital another day because of you."

"Oh, don't worry," Crocket smirked at down her before he looked over at her boyfriend. "I always add a two to whatever a patient tells me anyway. No need to threaten the Halstead."

"So what's the verdict?" Hailey asked. "How much longer am I stuck in this bed for."

"For as long as it takes me to get your discharge papers," the doctor replied.

"Thank God," she tipped her head back pillows in relief.

"Or me," Crocket shrugged cockily. "I'll be right back."

Twenty minutes later, Hailey was freed from the hospital. With a bottle of pain killers, all the things she needed to take care of her wound and her promise that she would take the full two weeks of medical leave the doctors advised. Jay drove her back to her place and helped hold her up as they rode up the elevator and made their way down the hall to her apartment. Hailey all but collapsed on her bed, absolutely exhausted.

"Hey," Jay teased as he arranged the pillows around her. "At least you don't have to try and navigate stairs anymore. It would have been a pain in the ass having to carry you up and down those things. God knows you would have been too stubborn to set up camp in the living room."

"Small mercies I guess," she shrugged and settled back against the mattress. They both knew he would have done so happily.

"I am going miss the cookouts though," he said and sat down beside her. "You had the best backyard."

"I know, me too," she agreed. "But after Vanessa moved to LA, living alone again, it just felt too much space."

Jay nodded in understanding. It had come as a shock when Vanessa announced that she'd put in a transfer to LAPD all those months ago. After doing one of those online ancestry DNA tests, she'd found an Aunt who lived out there. They'd emailed back and forth, and after a little while, Vanessa had felt like she couldn't miss the opportunity to know her family. "Heard from her at all?"

"Yeah," Hailey smiled. "She loves it out there. She's getting really close with her aunt and her cousins, she's learning all about her Mom. And she's loving patrol. She's even thinking about taking the courses and becoming a TO if you can believe that."

"I can see it," he replied. "You gonna tell her you got shot?"

"In a few days," Hailey said. "It's going to be bad enough dealing with your mother henning, I don't need her doing it from two thousand miles away."

"I don't mother hen," Jay defended.

"You wouldn't let me carry my pain pills home because you thought they were too heavy."

"Yeah, well," he trailed off. "Ok fine. You might have a point, sorry. I'll try and tone it down."

"Told you being the one in the chair is no walk in the park," she leaned her head against his shoulder. 

"How about we make a deal then," Jay placed his head on top of her and took her hand. "I know our job doesn't come with guarantees, but let's promise to do our best to make sure neither of us winds up in the bed or the chair again for a little while."

"A long while," she countered.

"Deal," he agreed. "Can I get you anything?"

Hailey shook her head. "I'm good. But you can stay here with me, that'd be nice."

Jay pressed his lips to the top of her head and closed his eyes. "I like this plan."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's right if the shows not going to acknowledge Vanessa's leaving or even existence, I sure as hell am! I tried to do something a little different to the typical she's away undercover thing. And in _no way_ did the video of Titus Makin Jr. taking about being up for a CPD, the Rookie cross over inspire the location. 
> 
> Also, I might be in the minority, but I really like Miller so far. She's kinda like the anti-every-superior-officer-we've-ever-seen. When I was writing this, I watched 7x10 as background noise and Voight's correction when Crawford calls Jay 'your man' I just really needed to put in a counter to it in this.
> 
> Anyway, ramble over, thanks for reading!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are at the end. Thanks for sticking through it this far. Hope you enjoy.

Hailey sat uncomfortably in her chair and resisted the urge to tug at the collar of her dress uniform. It had been nearly a month since the hostage situation at the courthouse. And it had gone by in a blur, a dull, seemingly endless blur. Sitting at home resting had been all well and good for the first couple of days but after a week of recovering she'd been over it. By the end of the second week, Hailey was pretty sure Jay had been close to having her committed.

She was only just back to full duty after a further week of being chained to her desk, before being given the all-clear by Doctor Marcel. But now, instead of doing her job like she wanted, Hailey was sitting on a stage. Under bright lights, with cameras all around, as she tried to pay attention to Superintendent Crawford's speech. Hailey was being issued the Superintendent's Award of Valor. For the second time, as her boss's boss had been more than happy to point out multiple times, as his speech stretched into a sermon. She had received the same award years earlier, before she'd even made detective, during an undercover operation that had gone sideways. One that she still couldn't talk about and neither could Crawford, much to the man's dismay the detective was sure.

Clapping erupted from the crowd, and Hailey knew that was her cue. She got out of the uncomfortable chair and stepped forward, standing at attention as Crawford fixed the new ribbon bar to her holder. A little blue star set in the middle of the red and white fabric. He presented her with a frame filled with her medal and certificate and then shook her hand as they posed for the cameras. Hailey forced a smile on her face as Crawford grinned broadly for the cameras. She blinked away the purple splotches the flashes left in her eyes as she made her way down the line of people waiting to walk her off stage. She shook Deputy Miller's hand with a genuine smile for the woman who helped prepare her for the day. 

Hailey didn't want to be apart of press outside of the money shots with Crawford and whatever candids the photographers snapped. The Superintendent had tried to convince her. He wanted interviews with print and broadcasters alike, but Miller had been able to talk him down. After all, how much better did it look for the department that this highly decorated detective was humble to boot. A detective who was gracious and grateful for the recognition she was receiving, but just wanted to get back to work. Hailey supposed it sounded so realistic, so reasonable because it was true; she was more than ready to fade into the background again. To get back to doing her job.

She walked off stage and made a beeline through the crowd to the back of the room, to her team. She wasn't surprised to find them already dipping into the refreshments the department had on offer. Each of them decked out in their Blues, she was thrilled to have them all there - well no, not all of them. Adam was missing. Hailey wasn't entirely sure where he was, she just knew that Voight had sent him down to patrol for a while. He hadn't been seen at the district, not by her anyway. But that didn't mean much. The man held a special place in all their hearts, especially Trudy's, not that the desk sergeant would admit it, so Hailey knew he was likely around. Just being kept away.

They hadn't really spoken yet; Hailey wasn't really sure what she wanted to say to him. While the urge to hit him had faded after a few days, the echo of anger remained. She just hoped that whatever lesson Voight was trying to teach him he'd learn. He'd also told her that he'd written a letter of reprimand for Adam's file, so had Sergeant Bauer. It was something that would very likely quash any hopes Ruzek had of making detective. It was far more of a punishment than any blow she could have delivered.

"Hey," Jay's voice broke through her thoughts. "You ready to get out of here?"

"More than."

They left the team with hugs all around and promises to Kevin and Kim that they would meet up the next night at Molly's for a drink before they headed back to her place. As they exited the elevator and turned down the hall to her apartment, she saw a person sitting on the floor outside her door. "Ruze."

"Hailey," he stood. "Hey, how are you?"

Hailey felt Jay bristle beside her, and she glanced up at him. His jaw was clenched, and his hands were flexing into fists. She wasn't fully aware of what went down between them that day, but she knew that Jay was still furious with their friend. "I'm doing alright," she answered and put a gentle hand on Jay's back, handing him her display box to, hopefully, keep his hands too occupied to take a swing. "Cleared for full duty as of two days ago."

"That's good, that's really good," Adam scratched at his ear. "Listen, Hails, um, here."

He held out a gift bag for her. She took it from him and looked inside. There was a bottle of Ardbeg Drum, a favourite of hers and Jay's, and a set of fancy whisky glasses. "Thank you," she gave him a small smile. "It's sweet of you."

"Hailey, look, I'm sorry," he finally looked at her, his warm brown eyes tinged with sadness. "I know saying that's not enough, but it's all I got. I am so sorry."

She nodded and stepped forward, wrapping an arm around his shoulders in a hug. "Are you staying safe?" she asked and felt him nod against her shoulder. "Keep it that way, okay?"

"Yeah," he grunted as she pulled back. "I will."

"Then we'll see you soon," she offered. It wasn't fixed yet; they both knew that, but it was a step. One she wanted to take.

"Yeah," he nodded again and grabbed his coat from the ground. "I'll see you guys later."

"Bye, Adam," she held up the bag. "Thanks for this."

"Enjoy," he called as he disappeared down the hall.

Once inside her apartment, the couple stripped off their jackets and unclipped their ties. Hailey sat at her counter and let her hair loose from the tight bun it'd had been in all day. Jay came up behind her and combed his fingers through her blonde waves, smoothing out the hair and massaging her scalp. She leaned back against him and let out a moan of pleasure. 

"Been a long day," Jay dropped a kiss to her shoulder. 

She hummed out her agreement. "Thank you for not punching Ruzek."

"Yeah, well," she felt him shrug as he curled his arms around her. "Maybe he's being punished enough."

"You think Voight's ever gonna let him back in the unit?"

"Maybe," Jay replied. "This is the longest he's been frozen out though."

"You hungry?" she changed the topic. "I was thinking of maybe ordering in something from GrubHub."

"Sounds good to me, I'm starving," Jay grabbed his phone and pulled up the app. They ordered some burgers from a nearby restaurant, and Hailey went to have a quick shower while they waited.

When she came back out to the living room fifteen minutes later, refreshed and comfortable in some sweats and one of Jay's shirts, he was sitting on the couch, flipping through the channels. He'd also gotten changed out of his dress blues and into some loungewear. She sat next to him, swinging her legs across his lap as she cuddled into his side. He'd said it right earlier, it had been a long day, but a lazy night on the couch, with take-out and Jay sounded like the perfect remedy. They sat quietly for a few minutes, Jay's head tipped onto hers, as he traced an invisible pattern on her thigh. 

"So I gotta tell you something," he nearly whispered, like talking too loud would disturb the peace around them.

"Oh?" 

"Yeah," he lifted his head to look at her. "It's probably something I should have brought up sooner, maybe, but a lot went down, and I don't even know if—"

"Jay," she broke off his ramble. "Just spit it out."

"That day, that morning," he swallowed. "On our way out the door, we said-"

"'Love you,'" she remembered. She couldn't believe that she'd forgotten. Not that she loved him, she knew that. But it had made her so happy that morning. She couldn't wait to wrap things up at court and get back to him. To have a conversation, _this conversation_. And then the day imploded.

"Yeah, that," he smiled. "I mean, we were in a hurry. Then things hit the fan. And with your recovery, I didn't want to push, but I just...Hailey, I need to know. Was that just a reflex? Or?"

"I love you."

Jay felt the tension drain out of his shoulders. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," Hailey leaned in and sealed her lips over his. She reached up and trailed her fingers over his stubbled jaw and up into his hair, pulling him closer. They stayed locked like that until the need for air forced them apart.

Jay rested his forehead against hers. "I love you too," he breathed. "Just in case that wasn't clear before."

"Mmh," Hailey slid into his lap properly, straddling his waist. "I'm pretty sure I got it, but I'll never say no to you making it clearer."

"That so?" Jay slid his hands slowly up and down her sides under her shirt. "Got any ideas on how I can do that?" 

Hailey's fingers scratched at the short hairs on the back of his neck and nipped at his bottom lip, tracing her tongue over it soothe the sting. A knock on the door broke them out of their daze, and Hailey rolled off his lap with a groan. "I got it," Jay stood and headed to the door. He took the bag from the delivery girl with a smile and handed her an extra ten dollars as a tip. "So, are we eating this stuff in front of the TV? Or do we pretend we're civilized adults and eat at the kitchen island?" 

"Put it in the fridge," Hailey's voice came from behind him. 

Jay turned to look at her and very nearly dropped the food to the floor. Hailey was leaning against the door to her bedroom, and she was wearing far less clothing than she had been when he went to answer the door.

"Put the food in the fridge," she said again, a sly smiled on her face. "And take me to bed, Jay."

She chuckled as she watched him shove bag away, and slam the door shut before he rushed to her. His hands gripped her thighs, and he hoisted her into the air. She couldn't hold back her laugh as he tripped his way to her bed. She brought his lips back to hers and smiled into the kiss. This was the start of something she's wanted since they first spoke those words nearly a month before, a night in the arms of the man she loved. Now there hadn't been a single night since she came back from the hospital that Jay hadn't spent with her. Holding her as close as her healing injury would allow. But this was different. They were on the same page with how they felt about each other, with where they were in their relationship. It was different than the one they'd been on before, no better or worse, just a little further along in their journey together. And Hailey couldn't wait to see what their story would unfold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So awards like this are given at an annual ceremony, but hey creative licence! 
> 
> As to the award, Hailey got and my saying that it was the second time she's received it, if something like this happened on the show, that would be true! I found a pic on Laroyce’s Instagram where we get a decent look at Hailey’s ribbon bar and I worked it out what she’s been awarded. In order they are:  
> The Superintendents Award of Valor   
> The Police Medal Award (which is basically extra kudos on top of the Valor award)  
>  -I assume these both come from the undercover assignment that was teased in   
>  Hailey’s introduction in season 4 (also as a little aside the position of these two   
>  should be flipped with the Police Medal Award being higher in precedence than the   
>  award of Valor)  
> A Special Commendation Award   
> The Arnold Mireles Special Partnership Award  
> The Police Blue Shield (Maybe. If it is it should be higher in the cluster than it is. But that could also just be a licensing thing.)
> 
> Anyway, Hailey is well and truly decorated, that’s for damn sure!
> 
> Also, if you’re at all curious, the glasses that Ruzek got Hailey, they’re called Norlan Whisky glasses, (the valid (black) set, ‘cause that’s just more Hailey’s style). They’re pretty awesome! And if you’re a whisky fan at all Ardbeg Drum is delicious, I got a bottle for Christmas from my parents and it’s so good.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading.


End file.
